Take Courage

Scripture:

Acts 23:11  "The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, 'Take courage!  As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome'".

Observation:

Paul had just been through a terrible ordeal where he was accused of all kinds of things simply because he was preaching the Good News.  He ended up in a riot of people wanting him dead simply because he was telling the truth about his life and of Jesus.  A group of people had taken an oath not to eat again until Paul was dead, then the Lord said, "Take courage!" and told him he had to do the same thing in Rome.

Application:

We generally ask, believe and trust God to get us out of bad situations.  We tend to believe that, if God is in the situation, nothing bad will ever happen to us.  Here we see Paul being told by the Lord to take courage because the terrible situation he had just walked through, was going to happen again.  Instead of telling Paul that He was going to deliver him out of all his problems, the told Paul to take courage and face them.  Every bad thing that happens to us, is not the enemy.  Sometimes God uses bad situations in our lives to advance His cause in the earth and He may ask us to persevere in some things that we would rather be delivered out of.

Prayer:

Lord God Almighty, help me to "take courage" from You concerning things in my life that I would like to see changed.  Help me to pray accurately about the situations I face.  Let me know when I need to stay and be strong and when I need to flee.  Let me know when I need to take courage and when I need to seek a way out of a bad situation.  Help me to know the difference and to follow You completely.

Your Son,
Jeff