Paul wrote these words from a Roman dungeon. A chain bound his wrist to a soldier. Every few hours, a new guard took the place of the old one, while the iron remain fastened onto his skin. Two years<\/strong> passed in that confinement where he waited for Caesar to hear his case.<\/p>\n News arrived from Corinth. The church he planted there, the people he taught for eighteen months<\/strong>, the ones he led to Christ one by one, were turning against him.<\/p>\n False apostles had entered the assembly, telling the Corinthians that Paul was weak, that his ministration was unimpressive, that he collected money for himself. They said he was no true apostle.<\/p>\n Paul had worked with his hands making tents in Corinth by himself, so no one could feel burdened. He had taught in the synagogue even on Sabbath days. He had been attacked five times<\/strong> in other cities, stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked<\/strong> three times<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Men who never carried any affliction for the sake of the gospel slandered his name, while the church he laboured to build believed them.<\/p>\n He sat in that cell and wrote to them anyway.<\/p>\n “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.”<\/strong> (2 Corinthians 4:8-9)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In the midst of tribulation that surrounded him, he could still breathe, pray, write and trust God.<\/p>\n Perplexed<\/em> could mean not knowing how things will turn out. Paul did not know if the church would survive. He did not know if he would live or die. He did not know why God allowed these things.<\/p>\n Despair<\/em> could mean having no way out. Paul always saw a way out, even if that way was through death unto glory.<\/p>\n At his first defence before the Roman court,<\/strong> no man stood with him. They all forsook him. They left him to face the tribulations all alone. But the Lord did not forsake him. He strengthened him.<\/p>\n Paul carried a seal<\/strong> within. He called it a treasure<\/strong> in an earthly vessel<\/em>. The vessel is clay, easily destroyed. The body, the flesh, the outward man that perishes. But the treasure within is of eternal life<\/strong> that could never be destroyed.<\/p>\n When the vessel is pressured, the treasure shines<\/strong> forth. When the body is cast down, glory arises.<\/p>\n Paul called it light affliction<\/em>. Could beating, stoning and shipwrecks be light affliction? Could being abandoned and forsaken be light affliction?<\/p>\n Paul weighed these things that were momentary against the glory that was coming. He put the troubles and afflictions on one scale and the glory on the other. The glory outweighed, for Christ is the hope of glory.<\/p>\n So Paul called his troubles momentary<\/em>. A thousand years is like a day unto the Lord. Paul’s sufferings were a passing shadow compared to the glory ahead.<\/p>\n He wrote,<\/p>\n “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”<\/em> (2 Corinthians 4:17)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The affliction was working for good, paving the way for glory<\/strong>. All the troubles of this world could never balance the scale.<\/p>\n Paul learned to look away from the things he could see. The chain, the soldiers, the four walls, the reports from Corinth, the slander of false apostles, the abandonment of family and friends and other things around him that anyone could see with the eyes. He looked beyond earthly things.<\/p>\n Rather, he fixed his gaze on things above. <\/strong>He looked up. For help cometh not from the north, south, east nor west but from the Lord<\/em>.<\/p>\n Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.<\/em> (Hebrews 12:2)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The glory. The reward. The throne of grace. The eternal life.<\/p>\n Things earthly eyes could see were temporary<\/strong>. The chain would go off. The soldier would go home. The walls would fall. The false apostles would be exposed. The Corinthians would return or they would not. Either way, heaven and earth shall pass away<\/em>.<\/p>\n God used Paul to evangelize the reach of the gospel in Damascus, Arabia, Jerusalem, Tarsus, Antioch, Seleucia, Cyprus, Perga, Antioch Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, Caesarea, and lastly in Rome.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n This gospel today came through the persecutions, tribulations and sacrifices of many who laid down their lives selflessly for the redemption of souls.<\/strong> God never forsook them and He will not forsake you.<\/p>\n Troubled on every side? Perplexed? Persecuted? Cast down? Count it all joy<\/em>, for many are the afflictions of the righteous.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Heavenly Father, let the treasure<\/em> of eternal life shine.<\/p>\n Let light afflictions<\/em> prepare the way for the glory that will come, now and forever.<\/p>\n In Jesus’ name, Amen!<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Partake in the endurance of Paul the Apostle, who chained in a Roman dungeon, writes his epistles; though ‘troubled on every side, yet not distressed, persecuted but not forsaken.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[794],"tags":[823,807,821,808,824,762,826,825,822,827],"class_list":["post-2923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-devotional","tag-2-corinthians-4","tag-ancient-near-east","tag-apostle-paul","tag-biblical-narrative","tag-chains","tag-faith","tag-hope","tag-persecution","tag-roman-guard","tag-spiritual-resilience"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2923"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2945,"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2923\/revisions\/2945"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gobeyondlocal.com\/faith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Let Us Pray<\/h2>\n