If God Loves me then Why do I Suffer? (A Devotional based on Paul’s Journey to Rome in Acts 27-28)15/3/2018 If God Loves me then Why do I Suffer? (A Devotional based on Paul’s Journey to Rome in Acts 27-28)You may be going through a rough patch in life right now and you're wondering what is the purpose behind your suffering. In this post, I will be sharing why God allows our suffering and His divine plans for your future. If you were blessed by this original Bible study, you can also check out my Patreon for more exclusive Bible studies, sermon notes, devotionals and eBooks that are not posted anywhere else. In Acts 27-28, the Apostle Paul is being escorted to Rome by a Roman regiment because he appealed to Caesar concerning a dispute that arose between him and the Jewish leaders. It turns out that this journey to Rome was not meant to be smooth sailing. You know how we always hope that life will be free from problems and that somehow we'll never have to experience any pain or loss? What Paul was about to experience depicts the moment when we realize that it is just our wishful thinking. “saying, “Men, I sense [after careful thought and observation] that this voyage will certainly be a disaster and with great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” However, the centurion [Julius, ranking officer on board] was persuaded by the pilot and the owner of the ship rather than by what Paul said. Because the harbor was not well situated for wintering, the majority [of the sailors] decided to put to sea from there, hoping somehow to reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there. So when the south wind blew softly, thinking that they had obtained their goal, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, hugging the coast.” (ACTS 27:10-13 AMP) During the journey to Rome, the Holy Spirit prompted Paul to warn the centurion and his soldiers about a coming disaster that would happen to them if they did not heed God's warning. The centurion did not listening to Paul's advice, and instead chose to trust in the so-called 'expert' advice from the pilot and the owner of the ship. After all, Paul wasn't a pilot or sea-man - how was he to know better than them right? Well, the centurion was wrong. When I think back to times in my life after I became a believer in Jesus when terrible things happened, it was mostly because I ignored the prompting in my spirit and acted based on my reasoning or experience instead. When a decision you want to make feels right in your heart, as a believer you can trust that because God has put a new heart in you from the moment you were saved, and the Holy Spirit guides you from your heart. "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My ordinances and do them." (Ezekiel 36:26-27 AMP) The problem comes when a decision is not so straightforward to make. If you go by the mind's reasoning and logic, it seems like a really good offer to take, but yet your spirit is telling you "No, there's something wrong with this". It's those moments that we have to consciously choose to trust the spirit and not our mind. “There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him, But its end is the way of death.” (PROVERBS 14:12 AMP) When we follow our mind, things mess up - we cannot see the future with our limited brain, but God can see everything, from beginning to end. We must trust that God has our interests at heart and He's not just trying to spoil our fun. However, the good news is, even when we choose wrongly and follow our mind instead of our spirit, God's grace will still catch us when we fall. “and when the ship was caught in it and could not head against the wind [to gain stability], we gave up and [letting her drift] were driven along. We ran under the shelter of a small island [twenty-five miles south of Crete] called Clauda, and with great difficulty we were able to get the ship’s skiff on the deck and secure it. After hoisting the skiff [on board], they used support lines [for frapping] to undergird and brace the ship’s hull; and fearing that they might run aground on the shallows of Syrtis [off the north coast of Africa], they let down the sea anchor and lowered the sails and were driven along [backwards with the bow into the wind]. On the next day, as we were being violently tossed about by the storm [and taking on water], they began to jettison the cargo; and on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle (spare lines, blocks, miscellaneous equipment) overboard with their own hands [to further reduce the weight]. Since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm kept raging about us, from then on all hope of our being saved was [growing worse and worse and] gradually abandoned.” (ACTS 27:15-20 AMP) When we choose to trust ourselves instead of God's wisdom, the negative consequences of our choices are unavoidable. The gift of free will that God gave man has to mean something. If our choices don't change the consequences, then the free will is just a big lie. Many times when we are suffering, we are still so stubborn that we want to fix the problems ourselves. We don't want to get God involved immediately. This reminds me of recent times when I was sleep training my 2 year old daughter Maeleth. When I relied on my 'smarts', experience and efforts to make it work, things just got worse and nothing was accomplished. But when I told God that I couldn't do this myself and that I needed Him, the deliverance came swiftly. You can read the full story of the sleep training journey and how it grew my faith here.
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What is the Purpose of Water Baptism? The Difference between the Baptism of John and the Baptism of the Holy SpiritIf you like this original Bible study, you can also check out my Patreon for more exclusive Bible studies, sermon notes, devotionals and eBooks that are not posted anywhere else. “Is water baptism really necessary today?”, “Is it a requirement for salvation?”. These are some questions that I had about water baptism. In this post, I will answer these questions and show you from God’s word what is the difference between the Baptism of John and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Before we begin, I’d like to define our main terms. The Hebrew word for "baptism" is Mikveh and the Greek word for it is "baptizo". In both languages, the meaning is "to immerse". I would define “Water Baptism” (in today's context) as: Water Baptism is when a person is immersed in water as a public confession of his or her faith in Jesus Christ. I’d also like to define what the “Baptism of the Holy Spirit” is: The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is when the Holy Spirit falls on a believer, immersing him or her. As a result, the believer receives spiritual empowerment as well as the spiritual gifts of speaking in tongues and prophesying. My Slain in the Spirit Experience and How this Phenomenon is Biblical - A Daily Devotional15/2/2018 My Slain in the Spirit Experience and How this Phenomenon is Biblical - A Daily DevotionalIf you like this original Bible study, you can also check out my Patreon for more exclusive Bible studies, sermon notes, devotionals and eBooks that are not posted anywhere else. |
4) When everything in life seems to be going our way, is Jesus still our top-priority and preoccupation?
We are reminded to remember Jesus when things are well for us, because all good gifts and blessings are from God (James 1:17)!
Our Heavenly Father loves it when we genuinely speak well of His beloved Son Jesus. He loves it when we talk to Him about Jesus!
For the past two thousand-plus years, majority of believers were Gentiles from the Gentile nations, not Jews from Israel or the diaspora.
In this sense, Jesus was stolen from the land of the Hebrews - the gift of salvation and the favor of God which was initially purposed for the Jews before the Gentiles, was given mostly to the Gentiles and not to the Jews.
Jesus committed no sin, but He was sent to earth to offer Himself as a perfect sacrifice for all the sins of the world (Psalms 69:4).
"But remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house. For indeed I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews; and also I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon.”"
5) The baked goods represent self-effort and self-justification.
Furthermore, the baked goods contain leaven (yeast), which in the Bible, represents sin.
So the baked goods as the whole, represent imperfect offerings to God - attempts at self-justification - to earn one's own righteousness through works instead of accepting the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12).
There is no other way in which one can be saved, apart from receiving the free gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12).
The way to salvation is simple: Believe in your heart and confess in your mouth that Jesus is your Lord and Savior, that He died for you on the cross and was resurrected on the third day after His death, and is now seated at the right hand of our Heavenly Father (Romans 10:9)!
Attempting any other form of earning your salvation is insulting Jesus' finished work at the cross and also the Holy Spirit.
Just like how the chief baker was to be put to death within three days, Jesus will slay the unbelievers in the world at His Second Coming, and the birds will eat their flesh.
"When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, “I also was in my dream, and there were three white baskets on my head. In the uppermost basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head.” So Joseph answered and said, “This is the interpretation of it: The three baskets are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head from you and hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from you.”"
"And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds fed ravenously and gorged themselves with their flesh." (Revelation 19:21 AMP)
6) The feast that Pharaoh organised represents the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, where the marriage of Jesus and the Church (the bride of Christ) will be celebrated in heaven, before Jesus and the Church come back together to earth gloriously to reclaim their home - Jerusalem.
" Then I heard something like the shout of a vast multitude, and like the boom of many pounding waves, and like the roar of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, [the Omnipotent, the Ruler of all] reigns. Let us rejoice and shout for joy! Let us give Him glory and honor, for the marriage of the Lamb has come [at last] and His bride (the redeemed) has prepared herself.” She has been permitted to dress in fine linen, dazzling white and clean—for the fine linen signifies the righteous acts of the saints [the ethical conduct, personal integrity, moral courage, and godly character of believers]. Then the angel said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he said to me [further], “These are the true and exact words of God.”" (Revelation 19:6-9 AMP)
Again, we are reminded to keep in our hearts what Jesus has done for us.
"Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.”"
What's your biggest takeaway from this daily devotional? Share your thoughts with me in the comments below!
Remember, if you enjoyed this post, you can also check out my Patreon for more exclusive Bible studies and devotionals that are not posted anywhere else.
I hope that you have been blessed by reading this post on "Be a Butler, not a Baker - Hidden Truths about the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and the Second Coming of Christ in Genesis 40".
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Hi I’m Milton Goh, I'm 30 years old and i'm a blogger who writes about Christianity, Parenting, Life Lessons that I learn from Movies/Shows, and Lifestyle.
I independently compile and post New Creation Church and Pastor Joseph Prince Sermon Notes Online here on my blog.
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Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified Bible.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.