Paul and his companions travelled from Cos to Rhodes to Patara to Syria and landed in Tyre. From Ptolemais to Caesarea, they stayed in Philip's place and met Agabus, who prophecied about Paul being held captive in Jerusalem. Paul's friends tried to stop him but he did not succumb to their plea. The prophecy did come to happen and he was arrested in the temple, as usual, the angry Jews caused it. He was beaten up but was "rescued" by the commander of the garrison. Paul took the opportunity by asking the commander to allow him to speak to the people.
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I have always believed that God uses different people for His glory to be revealed to all - even non-believers - yes you got it right, He uses non-Christians, even those who blatantly deny Him, to allow His message to be relayed to us.
In the case of chapter 21, God used the commander of the garrison to help Paul speak and testify among the hostile Jews. I was reading verses 30 onwards and I could feel the violence and riot in the temple but God never left Paul's side during that time and same goes to us.. God never leaves our side! The commander may not have known it but he did Paul a huge favour ;)
I know that there have been instances in our lives where our non-believer friends have helped us with our faith. There came a moment in my life where I almost gave up my faith and it took me a Moslem friend to snap me back to my senses, she ministered to me and she did not even know it. It was not just a plain moment, it became a WOW moment for me.
Now Paul here on the contrary never gave up his faith even a split sec despite trials and tribulations. Unlike me. But see how God delivers His children from the hand of the enemy, may they be weak Christians or strong ones like Paul.
Thank God for Jesus Christ, we have the confidence to turn back from our mishaps and say we can be like our own Paul! ;)
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