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Thursday... But I must go to Rome.


Acts 19:21 (NLT), "Afterwards Paul felt compelled by the Spirit to go over to Macedonia and Achaia before going to Jerusalem. 'And after that,' he said, 'I must go to Rome!'"

Thursday... But I must go to Rome.

Have you ever felt that you needed to do something? You were driven to do it!


Acts 19:21 (NLT) says, "Afterwards Paul felt compelled by the Spirit to go over to Macedonia and Achaia before going to Jerusalem. 'And after that,' he said, 'I must go to Rome!'"

There are so many benefits with having a relationship with God. He has a plan and purpose for our life and we can and must be opened to it.

Somewhere in all of Paul's journeys he felt that he needed to go to Rome. At some point in his life he felt that he was going there. And it made so much sence. He had gone to Athens and it made sense that if he was going to reach the Gentiles then he needed to go to Rome but not just yet.

Now he had spent some time in the town of Ephesus but as verse 21 says. "Afterwards Paul felt compelled by the Spirit to go over to Macedonia and Achaia before going to Jerusalem." He probably felt the need to go to Jerusalem to let the leaders of the Way know how his ministry was going but the Spirit of God had another plan so he headed out to where the Spirit wanted him to go.

Yes he needed to go to Jerusalem but the Spirit had His own plan so he did what the Spirit compelled him to do on the way to Jerusalem. For some personalities that would be difficult. They have plans that make sense. How would we handle that?

But there was also a deep desire in Paul to go to Rome. He was driven inside to go to Rome and he probably knew what he was going to do there. He was driven to go to Rome.

Verse 21 in the Amplified Bible says, "Now after these events, Paul determined in the Spirit that he would travel through Macedonia and Achaia (most of the Greek mainland), and go to Jerusalem, saying, 'After I have been there, I must also see Rome [and preach the good news of salvation.]"

God has given us the ability to make plans but He also has His plans and His way of doing those plans and they may be different from ours and God knows what He is doing.

Maybe you are going through a time of God changing your plans. And how do we handle that?

Yes, God's plan was for Paul to go to Rome and Paul's plan was to preach like he had been doing up to this point in life. And he had been successful at it and for us that means that is what we will do but God had a different way for Paul. And as we read through the rest of the book of Acts we will see what God had in mind. Paul went to Rome as a prisoner and in Rome he was a prisoner and he didn't preach, he wrote a big portion of the New Testament and Paul didn't really realize how much of a difference God's plan made in reaching even us today.

So let's make sure God's plans are what we do. And His way is best. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning



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