Day 5:
“…for I am with you,
and no one will attack you to hurt you;
for I have many people
in this city.”
Acts 18:10 (NKJV)
I often end my blogs with the message, “The Lord
is with you and you are loved.” In this eighteenth chapter of the book of Acts,
we find another example of that familiar biblical theme. The author, Luke, continues on with his account
of the Apostle Paul’s missionary trips as Paul arrives in the city of Corinth.
Here we find Paul working as a tentmaker with some
fellow believers while spreading the gospel. When his fellow evangelist, Silas and
young mentee, Timothy, show up, Paul focuses exclusively on preaching the
gospel to the local Jews.
Some Jews believe and some don’t even to the point
of becoming downright abusive towards Paul. Instead of returning their anger with
anger and trying to force them to listen, Paul, states that he will share the
gospel with the Gentiles (non-Jewish people) instead.
Although the synagogue leader and other Jews received
the message of the Gospel after this, Paul apparently still must have felt some
kind of way about his personal safety in that city because God came to him in a
vision and told him, “I am with you. No
one will attack to hurt you; I have a lot of people in this city.”
I just want to remind you of a few things that God’s
educators will need to keep at the forefront of their minds.
1)
God is
with us. That means just what it
says. He is aware of everything that is
going on in us, to us, and around us. His
perfect love only wants what is best for us and those are the plans that He has
for us.
2)
God did
not want Paul to feel afraid or to timidly carry out his assignment. Instead, He wanted Paul to feel free to move,
preach and teach boldly anywhere in that city.
God desires the same in us. We are to operate boldly in our various
assignments of sharing the Light and living as children of the Light this
upcoming school year.
3)
You don’t
have to know every Christian on your job.
Just know you are not the only one. They are sitting in your classroom
with you, standing behind you in the copy line, serving lunch, driving the bus,
leading the school, and coaching the team.
Live so that you stand out to one another. Then connect so that you can
make a difference!
Today’s prayer:
Dear loving heavenly Father,
Today, we rejoice in what it means for You
to be with us. We lay claim to the heavenly
protection and provision You offer and thank You for our daily supply of grace
and mercy. As we perform the daily
duties of our job, enlighten us to our God-given assignments a well. May we boldly carry out Your plans while only
being concerned with Your reaction rather than the reactions of others.
Give us discernment to find Your other sons and
daughters in our school and grant us the opportunity to make connections for
edification, encouragement, and prayer so that where we work might be blessed
even more.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
