“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.” Acts 23:11
Paul had been arrested for talking about Jesus in public places. As he was tried, he boldly stated who Jesus was and why he talked about Him. The people were angry with him and so the soldiers took him away to be safe. In the night Jesus came to Paul and told him that he must also testify about Him in Rome. Paul had to go to Rome.
One of the most common questions people ask when going through a tough situation in life is “why?” This is especially true when the person is doing everything right and following God.
Paul had been doing everything right. He had been telling the people about Jesus. But remember that Jesus had told Paul that he had to be a witness to the Gentiles. Jerusalem was not a city of the Gentiles. It was, however, God’s method of getting Paul to Rome where there were more Gentiles who had not heard about Jesus.
God uses many different ways to get you where you need to be in order to be His witness. Sometimes those methods are good, such as getting promoted on a job requiring a move to a new location. This gets you around new people to be His witness.
Other times it can be something disastrous. A major sickness causes you to be in a hospital where you can be a witness of Jesus to those there. A lost job causes you to move to a new job with new people who need to hear about Jesus.
Sometimes, Jesus will use the enemy (the world) to move you to a new location. Paul was sent to Rome as a prisoner. Jesus will use any method needed to get His message spread.
Are you willing to go where Jesus needs you to go? Are you willing to testify again of who Jesus is? Always search for new people to tell Jesus about again and again and again.
I pray today that Jesus will reveal who you are to be His witness to; that you will not fear movement or change; that God will give you His boldness to move forward in spreading the gospel message; and that many people will be drawn to Jesus through you.
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