Engaging in God’s Heart for the Nations: 30-Day DevotionalSýnishorn

When Trouble Comes – Day 29

Duane Brown, Formerly With OMS Church Partners

Paul’s testimony from Acts 20:22-24 (ESV)

“And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

How often has God warned you, like he did Paul, that life-threatening troubles were coming? My answer: rarely. Perhaps because I serve God’s mission while living in the West, where homeland ministry often proves easier than global ministry.

I hope Paul’s words offer the perspective that life isn’t as bad for Christians in the U.S. as it is for Christ followers serving God in places that are antagonistic to the Gospel.

The day is coming, however, when Western believers will face hardships like Paul’s. As we prepare for those times, let us take heart and remember five necessities:

1. Obey the call to go (“And now … constrained by the Spirit”).

2. Step forward in faith (“not knowing what will happen to me there”).

3. Listen for the Holy Spirit’s voice (“the Holy Spirit testifies to me”).

4. Finish well (“if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus”).

5. Commit to being a testimony of the grace of God at work in your life (“testify to the gospel of the grace of God”).