SUNDAY- 19TH MAY, 2024
MORNING WINGS DAILY DEVOTIONAL - Olusola ADEJUMO
REFUSE TO BE DISSUADED
Acts 21:13, KJV
"Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."
Nothing in the world should be able to dissuade you from your purpose and the fulfilment of it. It is not all assignments that are sweet or honeyed biscuits to our mouths. If it's the cup meant for us to drink, we should be persevering and obedient to take it. Jesus' cup is a cup of suffering and early death. Determined to do God's will, He refused any dissuasion on not dying. When He said He must suffer, die and resurrect on the third day, Peter would have none of it but Jesus rebuked Satan in him (Matt.16:21-23). Meaning, though His assignment is a hard one, yet He seeks to fulfill it because it is designated to Him by His Father.
John 4:34 says, "my meat is to do the will of He that sent me and to finish His work." Finishing His work is very critical. Many there be who began eating the will of God but who stopped from finishing it when they came upon the hard rocks in their assignments. However, not Jesus and not Paul as we'll soon see.
Here's Agabus bringing a prophecy to Paul that he'll be bound hands and feet in Jerusalem. Being in reputation for his honest prophecies, concern brethren would have Paul not go to Jerusalem where all these things are designated to happen. What is Paul's reply to this concern of theirs? Do you mean to weep and to break my heart. For I am ready not to be bound only but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
Like Paul, what is in our calling should be wholly embraced and lived out. Even when the content of the cup is bitter and we waver, let our response be, "grace me and let your will be done." Paul displays the characteristic of a soldier here who endures hardness by the many things he suffers. He doesn't shy away from his divine mandate as clearly revealed by God at the beginning of his ministry.
God testifying to Ananias said, "15 ...Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: 16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake" (Acts 9:15, KJV). In Acts 20:22-24, Paul himself testifies that the spirit witnesses that suffering and imprisonment awaits him wherever he gets to. He however confesses that none of these things move him neither count his life dear to me that he might finish his course with joy and the ministry which he received from the Lord Jesus.
You see, finishing and with joy is all that matters! So, since it's part of his destiny and mandate to suffer for Christ, why accept to be persuaded out of it? Beware of those who want to persuade you through love and concern out of God's will for you. Their acts would not be doing you any good. Every man has a meat prepared for him from God that he must eat and finish. You must see to that even if it's content is bitter. Finishing the will of God should be your concern. Show firmness and deep conviction in your mandate when it involves suffering. If we suffer with Christ, we'll sure be gloried with Him. Know in whom you believe and what He has spoken to you. God through Agabus didn't make that disclosure so that Paul would be dissuaded from pursuing further God's will but so that He might be prepared. Many times, we miss the essence of God's communication by misinterpretation. However, Paul's discernment and resolution secured him. May nothing be able to buy you out of God's programme for you.
PRAYER: I am unflinching in the pursuit of my purpose. Even when I come upon rocks, I shall not be afraid.
BIBLE IN A YEAR: 1 Samuel 20:1-21:15, John 9:1-41, Psalm 113:1-114:8, Proverbs 15:15-17
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