The Word To Live By: 1-30-26
Phil Waggoner
And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
The Word To Live By: In Acts 27, there is an incredible account of Paul and Luke on their way to Rome. Paul is a prisoner of the Roman government which has allotted him protection from religious persecution. (I find that somewhat humorous. God is using a devil government to protect him from other devils who want to kill him. How would you like to be sitting at that board meeting trying to solve that problem? 😊) For two weeks, the ship he was on was assaulted by a storm that literally destroyed everything except the men that were on board. (And that was because of Paul’s praying, which I’m going to talk about tomorrow.) They all get to shore on the Island of Malta. Some swam; some held onto pieces of the ship that had broken up from the storm when it was slammed against a reef. Now, chapter 28. They all got safely to shore, cold (with nothing but the clothes on their backs), and the storm was still going on. The natives showed them extraordinary kindness and received them all. (Here’s a principle of God at work. Kindness from the heart is a seed sown that produces kind acts back.) They kindled a fire for the men. That means they got one started (in the rain, I might add) and Paul was gathering wood to make it bigger when he was bitten by a very poisonous snake. When he didn’t die immediately, it opened the door for him to tell the natives and the other unbelievers about the power of God. Then more signs followed when he prayed for the leader of the island and he was healed (see Mark 16:17-18). That caused a revival to break out and the rest of the people on the island who had diseases came to him and got cured. (Extraordinary acts of kindness produced extraordinary blessings of God.) They were there for three months and at the end when they were ready to leave, the people “Honored them with many marks of respect; and when they were setting sail, they supplied us with all we needed.” What were they setting sail on? Their ship was in pieces at the bottom of the ocean. There just happened to be another ship there docked for the winter. What an amazing God we serve! He knows the end from the beginning. God had this whole thing set up from day one before Acts 23 when somebody came up with the bright idea to kill Paul. The known world was changed because of that decision to kill Paul. Which God used for good. Gods got a good future for you. The storm you are in right now will turn out for good if you keep your eyes fixed on Him and His Word (Romans 8:28).
Read through the Bible in a year: Luke 22:1-38; Genesis 39; Psalms 30;
Read through the New Testament and Proverbs: Proverbs 30, Matthew 15:21-39, Romans 2
The sum of Thy Word is Truth Psalm 119:160