Walking with St. Paul Doors, Opened and Closed

Dec 1, 2008

Acts 16:7-10:

"And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.

And when they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing beseeching him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."

And when he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them."

During his second missionary journey, Paul desired to continue to preach the Gospel in regions of Asia, but God had other plans. The Apostle was obedient to the Lord and submitted his personal plans (which were at the service of the Gospel) to God’s. Because of that obedience, the Gospel reached the European continent within just a few decades after the Resurrection. God often works that way in our lives, opening and closing doors to help us remain within his will.

Over the last few weeks, I had a series of strange difficulties attempting to post my Galatians commentary and was unable to regularly access my .Mac mail account. While I had originally chalked it up to continuing problems with Apple’s Mobile Me hosting, I have come to believe that the Lord is closing that door for now, and therefore I will explore some other Pauline themes, returning to Galatians at a later time. Over the next few months, I will share some insights into St. Paul’s Fruit of the Spirit - "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Gal. 5:22-23).