DCLM Daily Manna 25 October 2019 – A Durable Foundation

DCLM Daily Manna 25 October 2019 Devotional By Pastor W.F Kumuyi – A Durable Foundation

TOPIC: A Durable Foundation

TEXT: Acts 9:23-31
23. And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him;

24. But their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him.

25. Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.

26. And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.

27. But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

28. And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem.

29. And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians; but they went about to slay him.

30. Which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus.

31. Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.

KEY VERSE:
“Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket” – (Acts 9:25).

MESSAGE:
You know the day by the morning, according to an age-old adage. That is to say that what dawn offers a person tends to hint you of what will happen throughout the rest of the day. Similarly, what you experience at the start of your career, lays the foundation that would determine the trajectory of your mission. That was the case with the ministry of Paul the apostle. His genuine conversion bore fruit as he began to preach that the message of the crucified Man of Galilee was the way of salvation and not the Judaism he had been upholding. He “confounded the Jews… proving that this is the very Christ.” He got an endurable beginning that came in the form of persecutions.

DCLM Daily Manna 25 October 2019 – A Durable Foundation

Persecution set in quite early in his ministry. As the Jews killed Jesus earlier, so there was a plot to murder him too. Saved by the disciples he had come to destroy, the new convert learnt lasting lessons in Christ’s heavenly doctrine that we should forgive our enemies. This exalted theme of loving your enemy came up repeatedly in his epistles, notably in Romans 12. Ferried into Jerusalem, He enjoyed more love in the company of the apostles after initial rejection.

The new believer in Christ will experience troublous times at the beginning of his walk with his new Master, as the old slave-owner would not let go without a fight. But Jesus will permit the ensuing persecution only as far as we allow Him to use it to fortify us for stronger battles in the race to heaven. The Lord turns such early challenges into platforms upon which we can stand for more productive service for His kingdom, even when bigger challenges surface, as they did in the life of Paul.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Fleeing from ministry challenges is fleeing from God.

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Jeremiah 10-12

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