Strength and Deliverance

UV 745/10,000 Strength and Deliverance Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. 2 Timothy 4 v 17 When we share the Word or the gospel, the Lord Jesus stands with us as He stood with Paul. He is the One who strengthened Moses as the latter spoke to the mighty Pharaoh words of warning that would have certainly displeased Pharaoh. Later, He promised Joshua : “ As I was with Moses, I will be with you.” He kept His word with Joshua and did wreak mighty miracles and wrested victory against all odds for Israel led by Joshua. Now, He says the same word to us who stand by faith: “As I am with Moses, Joshua, Paul and Peter, I am with you.” Even as He did reveal His power and grace in their lives, He will reveal His power in our lives. We need to look to Him for strength. He will provide the wherewithal required for us to do His work. He increases our strength from within. David’s strength was so increased as he worshipped God while tending his sheep that the Lord enabled him to tear a lion apart by its jaws and to overpower a bear. The Lord cannot stand with us unless we are continually worshipping and adoring Him in our hearts and minds. The opposition will be clueless from which side it was hit even as Goliath was clueless about what had knocked him down as he stood against the puny David. It is the concern or burden of the Lord that people hear the full truth of life and salvation. It is His goal that all those who have not heard the gospel preached hear it for faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. St Paul was anointed to reach all the Gentiles. A man who was persecuting the early believers and was determined to prevent them from extending their influence to other Jews had been chosen by the Lord to be the chief instrument of taking the gospel to distant shores and people in different nations and from different cultures and backgrounds. But, the Lord delivered Paul out of the mouth of the lion several times. He was saved in a deadly shipwreck. He was saved from the bite of a poisonous snake. He was saved from incarceration in a Roman prison. He was saved from being stoned to death by angry mobs. He was saved from the ire of the authorities. The threat could emanate from a natural or human source. Similarly, the Lord will prove faithful to us and save us from the mouth of the lion as we stand for Him and speak on His behalf. Recently, the Lord reminded me, “ I have delivered you out of the mouth of the lion.” It meant that He had delivered me from a serious threat, an imminent danger. The lion is a symbol for a force or threat that is larger and stronger than us and it could thwart and destroy us. It is set in motion by our common enemy who dwells in darkness-satan. We may not even perceive it or be aware of such deliverance even after it happens. He not only strengthens us from within but He also defends us from without. Prateep V Philip