The apostle Paul, the survivalist!

Did the apostle Paul have survival experience?

More than the sailors, the soldiers or did the Holy Spirit prep him?

Acts 27:27-38 NIV

"On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land. They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet deep. Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it drift away. Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything.

Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.” After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. Altogether there were 276 of us on board. When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea."

The apostle Paul, a prominent figure in the book of Acts, was shipwrecked three times. In his lifetime traveling by sea was primitive. It was harsh. You took your life into your own hands when you boarded one of those first-century sailing vessels. And Paul had survived three shipwrecks.

So how do we survive a shipwreck in life? We will all face storms & sooner rather than later we'll find ourselves against the rocks.

If life is a journey then we will face obstacles, storms & mountains to climb. That is just the way it is. There are times when you will have smooth sailing. There are times when the sky will be blue and the sun will be shining. There will be beautiful moments between the storms. Remember not all the winds that blow in life are necessarily devastating.

On Paul’s voyage to Rome, we read in Acts that “the south wind blew softly” (Acts 27:13).

Sometimes that is the way it is. The south wind is blowing softly. You feel the warmth of the sun on your face.

Thank God for those moments. You'll need them for when the storm comes.

Sometimes people think that when they are in the will of God, they will have an easy ride.

That was not true of the apostle Paul. He seemed to face every kind of adversity imaginable. He had many enemies that were jealous of his success and would follow him around and undermine him, intending to destroy him. He had many setbacks in life, arrests, beatings and inprisonment.

Talking about his trials, he wrote, “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8–9).

Five years before making his journey to Rome, Paul wrote the believers there, “I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you” (Romans 1:10).

We would say, “Hey, would you guys pray for me? I am coming your way, pray the Lord gives me a prosperous journey by the will of God.” Did God answer his prayer? Yes.

We hear a lot about prosperity today & God wants a believer to prosper but the problem is with the meaning that people take from "prosperity".

For many, prosperity means

you never will be sick

you will never have problems

you will have plenty of money & 

life will be just great.

The problem with that is too much YOU not enough God.

The truth is that you can live a prosperous life in the will of God and still face conflict.

Paul went through shipwreck on his way to Rome but he had a prosperous journey, by the will of God, because of what it ultimately accomplished.

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God".

Seeing God's will working in our lives will bring prosperity but not in a way that the flesh will measure, not by the worlds standard!

Paul survived a shipwreck of a life and as I have already said we are all going to face storms and difficulties, yes even shipwrecks in some way.

So it is time for us to get our sea legs and learn how to survive, we need to equip ourselves with the right gear & mindset for what lies ahead...

Get lost in the word of God, prep your mind in prayer & know God will see you through!