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Topic: A Durable Foundation
[DCLM Daily Manna 25 October 2019 Daily Devotional by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi]
Text: Acts 9:23-31 (KJV)
Key Verse: “Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket” – (Acts 9:25).
You know the day by the morning, according to an age-old adage. That is to say that what dawn offers a person tends to hint you of what will happen throughout the rest of the day. Similarly, what you experience at the start of your career, lays the foundation that would determine the trajectory of your mission. That was the case with the ministry of Paul the apostle. His genuine conversion bore fruit as he began to preach that the message of the crucified Man of Galilee was the way of salvation and not the Judaism he had been upholding. He “confounded the Jews… proving that this is the very Christ.” He got an endurable beginning that came in the form of persecutions.
Persecution set in quite early in his ministry. As the Jews killed Jesus earlier, so there was a plot to murder him too. Saved by the disciples he had come to destroy, the new convert learnt lasting lessons in Christ’s heavenly doctrine that we should forgive our enemies. This exalted theme of loving your enemy came up repeatedly in his epistles, notably in Romans 12. Ferried into Jerusalem, He enjoyed more love in the company of the apostles after initial rejection.
The new believer in Christ will experience troublous times at the beginning of his walk with his new Master, as the old slave-owner would not let go without a fight. But Jesus will permit the ensuing persecution only as far as we allow Him to use it to fortify us for stronger battles in the race to heaven. The Lord turns such early challenges into platforms upon which we can stand for more productive service for His kingdom, even when bigger challenges surface, as they did in the life of Paul.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Fleeing from ministry challenges is fleeing from God.
THE BIBLE IN A YEAR: Jeremiah 10-12
