For 8 hours I had been driving with my Russian friends. We had seen maybe two or three cars in all of that time. I was on my way from a ministry time, and they were hurrying to get me to the airport so as not to miss my flight. All of a sudden the van ran out of gas. They were upset thinking I was going to miss my flight. I had enough time to share with them a story of how the Lord managed to get me out of another impossible situation in Nicaragua and because of that experience I knew the Lord would get us out of this one. As I completed my story, we saw lights coming from behind us a few miles back. My brothers began to figure what they would do if this car gave us a little gas. To all of our surprise, in a few moments, what we thought was a car turned out to be a truck hauling gasoline. It pulled up beside us and sold us enough gas to fill up the van. God is always looking for people who won't give up but will trust that He will always get you where you need to be.
"...Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea." 2 Corinthians 11:25
We only have one record of Paul being shipwrecked, but apparently, it happened to him three times. Can you imagine? Did Paul miss God's plan? Should he never have gotten on those ships? Had he stepped outside of God's will because these bad things kept happening to him? Of course, the answer to all of these questions is, "No!" Aren't these the types of questions others ask us, or we ask ourselves when bad things happen? Acts 27 we can read Paul's story of shipwreck.
The one thing the devil is terrified of is a Christian who stays on course. He will do everything he can to hinder, hassle, cause confusion, or simply get you to give up. The only time the devil wins is when we give up, become frustrated, or surrender our dream/God's plan for our lives. Paul did not miss God, the devil simply tried to stop him. Paul didn't panic, didn't complain he sought the Lord, and the Lord told him what would happen and how to protect everyone on board. Can you imagine the revival that took place among the crew? Can you imagine the power the Gospel had to these men after this incident? God's plans are bigger, and we don't always understand why we go through what we go through. We always have a choice trust God and win or surrender to a negative mindset, give up and let the devil win.
One of these shipwrecks caused him to tread water for an entire day. Most of us would have never gotten on a ship again. Paul understood, it didn't matter if he was on water or on foot, the enemy was terrified of him. The devil was determined to stop Paul at any cost. Paul knew all of these circumstances were opportunities for God to shine and he was determined to allow God to use him to shine!
What opportunities do you have right now for God to shine? Have you given up on God because of things that have happened? Have you been hurt or disappointed so badly that you gave up on God? Allow me to challenge you to revisit those places, allow God to pick up the pieces, and look at them in light of today's "thought!" You terrify the devil when you keep going and trust God! Start scaring him today!
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