Let us not misinterpret GOD’S Will for us!
Even though Paul wrote roughly two-thirds of the New Testament, he misinterpreted GOD’S Will for him. If it can happen to him, it can also happen to us. It is vital that we stay in our lane when FATHER reveals our calling to us.
Paul’s priority was to minister to the Gentiles, yet he continually went to the Synagogues as his first priority early in his ministry.
Luke recorded by The Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 14:
1 When Paul and Barnabas arrived at Iconium, the same thing happened there. They went, as they always did, to the synagogue and preached to the people with such power that a large crowd of both Jews and non-Jews believed.
2 Some of the Jews refused to believe, and they began to poison the minds of the non-Jews to discredit the believers.
3 Yet Paul and Barnabas stayed there for a long time, preaching boldly and fearlessly about the Lord. Many trusted in the Lord, for he backed up his message of grace with miracles, signs, and wonders performed by the apostles.
4 The people of the city were split over the issue. Some sided with the apostles, and others with the Jews who refused to believe.
5 Eventually, all the opposition factions came together, with their leaders devising a plot to harm Paul and Barnabas and stone them to death.
Paul did preach under the anointing and produced good fruit. However, he got ahead of himself in the priorities Jesus had given him. First, the Gentiles, then kings, and finally the Jews.
What were the repercussions of Paul teaching the Jews? We see in Acts chapter 19:
8 In Lystra, Paul and Barnabas encountered a man who from birth had never walked, for he was crippled in his feet.
9 He listened carefully to Paul as he preached. All of a sudden, Paul discerned that this man had faith in his heart to be healed.
10 So he shouted, “You! In the name of our Lord Jesus, stand up on your feet!” The man instantly jumped to his feet, stood for the first time in his life, and walked!
11 When the crowds saw the miracle Paul had done, they shouted in their own language, “The gods have come down to us as men!”
12 They addressed Barnabas as “Zeus” and Paul as “Hermes,” because he was the spokesman.
19 Some of the Jews who had opposed Paul and Barnabas in Antioch and Iconium arrived and stirred up the crowd against them. They stoned Paul and dragged his body outside the city and left him for dead (Gr 2348).
20 When the believers encircled Paul’s body, he miraculously stood up! Paul stood and immediately went back into the city. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.
The Greek word thnēskō means: to die, to be dead. Paul died but was raised from the dead supernaturally. His body was restored, and he IMMEDIATELY went back into the city.
Paul recounts this stoning in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11:
22 Are these “super-apostles” of yours Hebrews? I am too. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? Me too!
23 Are they servants of the Anointed One? I’m beside myself when I speak this way, but I am much more of a servant than they. I have worked much harder for God, taken more beatings, and been dragged to more prisons than they. I’ve been flogged excessively, multiple times, even to the point of death.
24 Five times I’ve received thirty-nine lashes from the Jewish leaders.
25 Three times I experienced being beaten with rods. Once they stoned me. Three times I’ve been shipwrecked; for an entire night and a day I was adrift in the open sea.
Let us not be impatient when we receive the details of our calling. We should not attempt to insert an expansion of our calling beyond the scope given to us by Our Lord Jesus Christ. I have been guilty of this in the past and suffered the consequences of it. Let us learn by Paul’s own experience.