Daily Devotionals

Read Acts 24:1-9

PAUL

Long before my mother died, she and a neighbour friend compiled a book of God's promises taken from the Scriptures. Each made her own. My mother used that little book as a primer for her prayers. After she died, my brother and sister and I viewed that tender compilation as part of her legacy to us. The book swelled with handwritten promises from the Bible.

Read Acts 23:11-22

PAUL

Have you ever felt the ground move under your feet? Do you know what it's like to pitch from side to side in a small boat on strong seas? Have you ever had to run for cover, dodge bullets, or duck out of the way of advancing troops? Remarkably, some people around the world could answer, Yes! to all three questions. Most of us only imagine such scenes.

Read Acts 23:11-22

PAUL

Not one assassin but 40 of them! Forty determined terrorists, operating under cover of secrecy. All of them vowing, "We will not eat or drink until we've killed him."The plan was treacherous and set in motion by those who wanted him dead. What they hadn't counted on was an unlikely ally for Paul. His nephew had overheard everything and made tracks to warn his uncle.

So much for Paul. How about you? Fast forward to the 21st century. Are you afflicted and burdened excessively? Do you feel as if you're under such intense pressure these days that you, too, are close to despair? I have some surprising news: you're exactly where God wants you to be. It took all these years to get you this low, this needy. Now, look up!

We'd rather admire Paul for his strength in trials. We want to applaud his fierce determination against vicious persecution. If the man were alive today, he would not tolerate our congratulations. "No, no, no. You don't understand. I'm not strong. The One who pours His power into me is strong. My strength comes from my weakness." That's no false modesty. Paul would tell us, "Strength comes from embracing weakness and boasting in that." It is that kind of response that brings divine strength and allows it to spring into action.

Paul pressed ahead through a mind-boggling series of intense hardships.“Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I have more claim to this title than they. I have worked harder than any of them. I have served more prison sentences! I have been beaten times without number. I have faced death again and again. I have been beaten the regulation 39 stripes by the Jews five times. I have been beaten with rods three times. I have been stoned once. I have been shipwrecked three times.

Read Acts 18:1-17; 2 Corinthians 4:7-15

PAULPaul viewed whatever happened to him through the eyes of faith. That remarkable trait allows him to be numbered among giants of the faith like Moses, who, according to Hebrews 11, "left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen" (11:27). Like Moses, Paul endured the hard times by focusing on the eternal. He used his trials as reminders to focus on things not seen. When your heart is right, you can do that.

Read Acts 17:10-34

PAUL

If you are responsible for communicating biblical truth, consider yourself a preacher (at least for the now) — you are a communicator of God's Word. If that describes you, these next four principles are especially for you. Pay close attention, read thoughtfully, and carefully, as I apply this to whatever may be your ministry.

Read Acts 17:1-9; 1 Thessalonians 2:1-6

PAUL

What is it going to take to convince us that the last will be first and the first will be last? For some, it will take a lifetime, for others only a few semesters in seminary.

Read Acts 17:1-9; 1 Thessalonians 2:1-11

PAUL

Good leaders are enthusiastically affirming. Again, Paul writes, "You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers; just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children" (1 Thessalonians2:10-11). He started with a mother tenderly caring for her children. Now we see a father encouraging and exhorting his kids.