Walking by Faith in Winter Pt2

“The first time I was brought before the judge, no one came with me. Everyone abandoned me. May it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me and gave me strength so that I might preach the Good News in its entirety for all the Gentiles to hear. And he rescued me from certain death. Yes, and the Lord will deliver me from every evil attack and will bring me safely into his heavenly Kingdom. All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.” – 2 Timothy 4:16-18 NLT

Last week we began to learn from the emotionally low apostle who was obviously lonely in prison at the tail end of his ministry and life, how to walk by faith when it’s ‘winter’. And one key thing that stood out for us was that, for Paul, faith was a choice based on his conviction that God is good and faithful; and a confidence that God would never leave him nor forsake him no matter what life brought.

Now the third lesson here is this, that it is instructive to see how Paul not only believed that God was with him, but was quick to see the hand of God in it all. He said –

‘But the Lord stood with me and gave me strength so that I might preach the Good News in its entirety for all the Gentiles to hear.’

He saw the hand of God in the way that he was enabled to preach the Good News when he was on the point of being judged. A lesser man may have thought that if God didn’t do a miracle and free him from prison then God was not there. But Paul’s heart beat was different. He so trusted God that his prayer must have been – “Lord, as I go out to this court to be judged, empower me to preach the Gospel so that all the lost will hear and be saved. Use me for your Kingdom and Glory’. This man so trusted that God was good and in control that he never lost his passion for the Kingdom of God and for the Glory of God. Wow! Bad times are never an excuse to lose a good heart; to lose the fire of God in us; to lose the hunger we have for souls and for his Kingdom to come.

It is when the devil deceives and convinces us that our troubles mean that God has forsaken us, that we begin to lose our faith in him and our faithfulness to him. What a challenge Paul brings us. He had a clear vision of God’s faithfulness, and of eternity, and the worth of the reward that awaited him. He knew that ‘God rewards those who earnestly seek him’. A clear vision of God’s faithfulness and of our eternal reward helps to put life’s present trials into proper perspective.

Some of you who are reading this now are going through a ‘winter’ season in your life. Be encouraged by Paul – don’t allow the cold of your winter, to chill out your faith in the faithfulness of God. Listen to Paul –

“The Lord will deliver (you) from every evil attack and will bring (you) safely into his heavenly Kingdom. All glory to God forever and ever! Amen”