I Have Many in This City

Day 178: Acts 18:1-22

“And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.’” - Acts 18:9-10 ESV

A pattern that occurs over and over in the Bible is this:

• God calls someone.

• That someone responds in faithful obedience.

• God supplies that someone with all they need to accomplish their call.

Paul ends up in Corinth and is immediately supplied with what he needed. He needed finances, and he needed partners for ministry. God gave them both directly in the form of a power couple named Aquila and Priscilla. The word tentmaker is literally leatherworker in Greek. They were good at what they did, and as God had designed, were forced to flee Rome at the exact time Paul ended up in Corinth.

What ends up happening in many cases is that we let fear keep us from recognizing what God is doing. Jesus knew that this would be a temptation for Paul, and so Jesus Himself affirms the purpose of his presence there.

Do you think Jesus has more of his people around you than you realize? Don't let fear keep you from seeing them.

"He had come to Corinth full of misgivings—“in much fear and trembling,” he says himself (1 Cor. 2:3)—but he should abandon all fear and go on proclaiming the gospel boldly. He would reap an abundant harvest by so doing, for the Lord had many in Corinth who were marked out by him as his own people." - Bruce, F. F. (1988). The Book of the Acts (pp. 350–351)