Lasea. I was on my way to Rome but I was contending with the prince and the power of the air. My enemy in the heavenly realms did not want me to go to Rome. The Greek god of the seas Poseidon, also known to the Romans as Neptune was trying to exercise his power over us and destroy us.
We had lost a lot of time and the weather was becoming dangerously risky for us to travel by sea. It was now late in the fall season for anyone to risk a voyage, due to the high winds. I had to do some thing about it, so I spoke to the ships officers in charge of the prisoners, saying, "Sirs, I believe that there will be trouble ahead if we sail on by ship. A shipwreck, loss of cargo and maybe danger to our own lives as well." Nevertheless the centurion in charge of the prisoners listened to the master and the owner of the ship, more than he believed me. Because Fair Havens was an exposed harbour port and therefore not a suitable place to bed down for the winter. The majority of the crew made a decision to sail from there to Phoenice, a more suitable port up the coast of Crete to spend the winter there. It was a good harbour sheltered from the south west and north west winds.
So we set sail and when a light south wind began to blow, the sailors thought that we could make it there. So they pulled up the anchor and sailed close to the shore line of the Isle of Crete. Suddenly the weather changed abruptly as we were hit by a fierce storm with gale force winds, called a northeaster. It burst across the island and blew us out to sea. Jesus once spoke to a violent storm of this nature and the winds and the waves obeyed Him. However, God seemed to want me to go through this storm, as He wanted to prove to me that He was my shelter from the storm. He said that He will be with us when we pass though the waters and He will not allow us to drown.
The sailors couldn't turn the ship into the wind, so they gave up and let it run with the tempest. The gale force winds were now driving us with a fierceness. I see people driven by fierce winds all the time. Either you can allow your life to be driven by the spirit winds of God that lead to eternal life or you can be driven by demonic winds that lead to destruction, a shipwreck upon the rocks. Those who doubt and do not ask God in faith are like the waves of the sea, driven and tossed by demonic winds.
We became sheltered from the wind for a moment when we passed by the side of a small island named Cauda. With strenuous effort we managed to get control of the lifeboat that was being towed behind us and we hoisted it aboard. The sailors had to bind ropes around the hull of the ship to strengthen it as they were afraid of being driven across the sandbars on the Syrtis off the African coast. So they lowered the masts and the anchor to slow the ship down from being so fiercely driven. The next day as gale-force winds continued to batter against the ship, the crew began to throw the cargo overboard. The following day they even took some of the ship's gear and threw it overboard. The terrible storm raged on and on for many days, blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last all the hope that we had in our hearts to be saved was gone.
Sometimes it has to get darker before it gets brighter, as the darkest part of the night is just before the dawn. However, God will counsel and instruct us in our night season. Weeping and sorrow may only endure during the night season, but joy comes in the morning. He may sit me down in dark places to cause me to die in my night season, but in the morning, at the break of dawn, He will bring dead things back to life.
We all ate nothing for several days from the stress and horror of the angry waves beating against us in the boat. So I stood up and called the crew together and said, "Men, you should have listened to me in the first place and not sailed from Crete. You would have avoided all this damage and loss. But take courage for there will be loss of cargo and the ship will go down but there will be no loss of life. Not a hair on your heads will perish. For last night an angel of the Lord appeared to me and said, 'Don't be frightened Paul! It is necessary for you to stand trial before Caesar, the Emperor in Rome. God in His goodness has granted safety to everyone sailing with you.'" I then spoke to all the men on the ship with confidence, in a strong bold tone of voice knowing the end from the beginning, "Men, take heart! For I trust God and believe that what I have been told by His angel will come true. However we must be shipwrecked upon a certain island."
Angels are ministering spirits assigned to the heirs of salvation. I was able to comfort the men with the words that I had been comforted with by the angel. At about midnight on the fourteenth night of the storm as we were being driven across the Sea of Adria, the sailors sensed that land was near. So they dropped a weighted line and found that the water was twenty fathoms deep. When they had gone a little further, they measured again, and found it to be fifteen fathoms deep. It is always at your midnight hour that God comes to your rescue when you give him thanks.
At this rate they were afraid that we would soon be driven against the rocks along the shore. So they threw out all four anchors from the back of the ship and prayed for daylight. Then the sailors tried to abandon the ship. They lowered the life boat secretly into the water giving the pretence that they were going to lower the anchors from the front of the ship. I quickly alerted the centurion and said to all the soldiers, "You will all die unless the sailors stay aboard on the ship." So the soldiers cut off the ropes of the life boat, and let her fall off into the angry sea and drift away.
Just as the day was dawning, I got them to eat some food to renew their physical strength. We had gone for fourteen days without eating anything. In the presence of them all, I blessed the bread, giving thanks to God and then broke it. I gave some to Luke and then I also ate. When they saw us eat, everyone was encouraged and also began to eat. It is difficult for a man to eat something when he is staring death in the face. After eating, the crew further lightened the ship by throwing the wheat overboard into the raging sea. When morning dawned, the sailors didn't recognise the coastline, but they saw a bay with a beach and wondered if they could get to shore by running the ship aground. Finally they made an executive decision to run the ship aground.
They cut off all the anchors and left them at the bottom of the sea. They lowered the rudders, raised the sails into the wind, and sailed hard and straight for the shore. But they hit a shoal where two seas meet and ran the ship aground too soon. The bow of the ship stuck fast in the sand, while the stern was repeatedly smashed by the force of the waves and began to break apart, disintegrating into the sea. The soldiers wanted to kill the prisoners to make sure they didn't swim ashore on their own and escape. But the commanding officer wanted to spare my life, so they didn't let them carry out their plan. The commander ordered all those who knew how to swim, to jump overboard first and make for land. While those who couldn't swim held planks and debris from the broken ship. Everyone escaped safely to the shore, just as I had prophesied. God was faithful and did exactly what He had promised He he would do.
We all ended up shipwrecked on an island. However I wasn't going to allow my faith to become shipwrecked with that old ship. I kept my faith up with a good conscience towards God. I was on my way to Rome by the will of God and I kept believing that He will do what He had promised to do.
I am Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by God's will, which holds a promise of life through being united with the Messiah. To God our Father be glory forever and ever. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Amen - so be it.
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[email protected] Serpent in the fire. #17
After the shipwreck and our narrow escape, we learned that the island was called Malta. Its people showed us unusual and remarkable kindness. It was bitterly cold and started to rain, so the locals lit a bonfire and welcomed and received us all. Now I had gathered a bundle of sticks and was adding them to the fire, when a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat,
fastened itself onto my hand. The islanders saw the creature hanging from my hand and said to one another, "This man must be a murderer. Even though he escaped the sea, Dike, the god of justice and vengeance has not permitted that he should live."
Luke also saw the serpent bite me. I simply shook off the beast into the fire and suffered no evil effects. I wasn't going to allow that ancient serpent, the devil to hinder my God-given purpose and destiny. He said that I was going to preach His message in Rome and I was on my way to Rome. No shipwreck or snake bite was going to hinder God's plan for my life. I refused to allow it. I made a stand against the devil in the spiritual realm.
Jesus, the Messiah had given us authority to trample upon serpents and scorpions. He had given us authority over all the power of the devil and nothing shall in any way harm us. Jesus said, "In my name you shall pick up serpents with your hands." I had used my God-given authority over the devil. It was through Christ's death upon the cross, that He destroyed him who had the power of death, that is the devil. Jesus crushed the serpents skull