Beleive in God

In Acts 26, Paul is having a conversation with King Agrippa about his conversion from Judaism to Christianity and his being persecuted for it. He tells the King about the time Jesus confronted him on a journey during the midday. Jesus asks Saul (Paul) why are you persecuting me. 

Jesus tells Paul that I want you to deliver the Gentiles to open their eyes and to turn away from darkness and Satan into the light unto God. The gentiles need forgiveness of sins and to be sanctified in that faith that is in Jesus. Paul tells the King, I was not disobedient is why the Jews want to kill me.  

 The King has an interesting response and Paul responds in Acts 26:

28 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. 29 And Paul said, I would to God,

The King finds Paul did nothing wrong that deserves death, they decide to send him to Caesar in Italy with a bunch of other prisoners. They set sail on a ship called Adramyttium from Asia where they landed in Myra. They would transfer to a new boat of Alexandria for Italy. The ship would crash somewhere near Crete. 

An Angel of the Lord appeared to Paul telling him to fear not, you will sail to Italy to be brought unto Caesar. Paul tells all the people from the shipwreck, be of good cheer. For I, here it is, “Believe God” that I will meet with Caesar in Italy. 

I can relate to Paul’s journey. In 1992, I flew from Frankfort, Germany to Ankara, Turkey and eventually landed in Heraklion, Crete where Paul was shipwrecked. After 15+ days on the Island of Crete, I  took a ferry to Athens where I spent a few days. The next ferry ride was to the Island of Corfu for a few more days where I would catch another ferry to Brindisi, Italy. 

Once in Brindisi, I would catch the Eurail train to Naples but since I did not understand the train system I ended up in Rome. The person with me in my train car was from Germany and he wrapped a bungee cord around the door attaching it to the luggage rack above. He also opened the window slightly for fresh air to circulate.

This was odd to me but found out why when we stopped in Rome. The American family in the car next to us, was robbed of all their luggage, passports, cash, etc…The rumor was they were gassed which is why the German man bungeed the door and opened the window. Paul had a shipwreck, I had a family gassed. Even with this, it was a vacation of a lifetime. 

Back to Paul, who was shipwrecked on an island where he still believes God that he will see Caesar. Paul eventually gets to Rome where he seeks out the Jewish leaders. He asks what have I committed against thee which the Jewish leaders gave me over to the Romans who found not fault to bring death to me. Paul gets to appeal to Caesar in Acts 28:19 but it is a bummer we do not get to read about the conversation. 

I wrote this in “Walk to God” about Paul:

“He did not have an easy life once Jesus called him into the ministry on the road to Damascus in Acts. He was put in prison (Titus), stoned (Acts 14), and gives a list in 2 Corinthians 11 beaten with rods, shipwrecked 3X’s, hungry, thirsty, cold, naked, and in peril among many examples all still giving glory to God.”

Would you “Believe God” if all these things happened to you like they did Paul? Many would think they are cursed.   How many Christians "Believe God" for everything that happens in their life?  Read Job, would you still "Believe God" if all the calamities came upon you?  Job's wife took issue telling Job to curse God.  Like Paul, Job held fast to God.  “Believe God” is only mentioned this one time. In the next blog, we will look at “Believe in God”, and finally tying both together to share what God wants for us as Christians.