That journey that manifests purpose and destiny progressively?
[Rom 1:10-15 Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you. For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord. When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see spiritual fruit, just as I have seen among other Gentiles. For I have a great sense of obligation to people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world, to the educated and uneducated alike. So, I am eager to come to you in Rome, too, to preach the Good News.]
While we are not ignorant of the wiles of our enemy satan, after we pray, and start walking in obedience, it is important to have a biblical perspective about the journey because not all the journeys towards purpose and destiny in the holy Scriptures were devoid of challenges, tests, and tough situations that required the vessels of God to rise to the challenge
Notice that the word prosperous in Paul’s journey is the same word that John uses here [3 John 1:2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.]
I like listening to my audio bible when am going to sleep and everytime I listen to Acts 27, 28 and think about Paul’s journey I get convicted about my expectations for God’s assignments in my purpose and destiny on earth
Paul did not travel business class for the mission to Rome, nobody was pampering him at every stop, he was a prisoner in chains on his journey to Rome, the elements of weather were so dangerous, such that all the travelers feared for their lives and could not eat for 14 days and nights. God had to send an angel to strengthen Paul and to deliver a message of encouragement to everyone
Question: Are you sure you want to pray: “Lord send me to the nations, how will they hear without a preacher?”
When it’s in the revealed will of God for us to go to the nations like I know we are to reach women and girls in 7 continents, we must understand how sometimes these missions will look like because not all of these assignments lead to palaces and kingdoms
Expecting the “pampered” calling all the time is not realistic because God is the one sending us out to the exact mission trip that will deliver and save many souls, many times it’s not a comfort trip, its not a vacation trip, and even though I too like every lady likes a good spa day, not all of these will have the spa and I took the cost of the call and decided to follow JESUS regardless
It can be comfortable sometimes but even when its not comfortable like the mission to Rome, we MUST say yes Lord and have the exact same excitement and remain focused on hearing from God instead of arriving with a sour attitude, murmuring around and complaining
Sometimes even your luggage will delay like when I was in London in summer, my luggage arrived later in another flight so I had to sit at the hotel for 4 hours exhausted waiting for everything I needed yet I was jet lagged, and thanking Jesus that atleast it was not lost because there’s people who loose luggage for weeks then it arrives when you’re going back home. satan is wicked
Exasperation and meltdowns can happen when you’re on that mission and yet this was nothing compared to Apostle Paul’s journeys
Their ship ended up being shipwrecked and then this happened
[Acts 28:3 – 6 As Paul gathered an armful of sticks and was laying them on the fire, a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, bit him on the hand. The people of the island saw it hanging from his hand and said to each other, “A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live.” But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed. The people waited for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn’t harmed, they changed their minds and decided he was a god.]
Does this look like a prosperous journey?
Did God answer Paul’s prayer/request for a prosperous journey?
You see our culture defines prosperity in a way that associates it with only material possessions
This bible account gives us a deeper revelation of what it really means to prosper
The word prosperous comes from a Latin word, “prosperus,” which means “doing well”
One of the ways it was frequently used in Latin was to describe a general who had conducted a successful military campaign
When he returned to Rome it would be said in Latin, “re prospere justa,” meaning he has “prosperously carried out his assignment”
We can conclude that God answered Paul’s prayer and his journey was prosperous according to God
His experience teaches us that to be prosperous is to successfully complete doing the assignment in the revealed will of God
Am not saying that God does not bless us with abundance, I am also all about receiving the abundance and blessing of God which I learnt how to operate in abundance a long time ago and it works perfectly so I never lack, I always have something extra to share with others which is what abundance means
I encourage us all today; the journey towards accomplishing God’s purposes and will may never look pretty, it may have even vipers like Apostle Paul’s but we should never be bothered by vipers or other difficulties because God can even send angels to strengthen us like Paul if He has to
Let us never look at prosperity through the lens of today’s culture because if we were to use that lens then even Paul’s journey cannot be considered prosperous yet his journey was “re prospere justa”
I touch and agree with us all, we will have a prosperous journey in the path, plan and purpose that God has for us in His revealed will in Jesus holy name AMEN!
Rom 1:10 Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.
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