Pray the Word with David Platt is a resource from radical.net.

Acts chapter 21, verse 13.

Then Paul answered,

What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart?

For I am ready not only to be imprisoned,

but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.

What a verse.

Paul's surrounded by friends who love him and care for him as he's on his way to Jerusalem

and they're warning him that persecution's coming, that there are people in Jerusalem

who want to kill him.

And Paul looks at them and he says I'm ready not just to be imprisoned by them I am ready to die for the name of the Lord Jesus what a way to live

ready to die in Jesus.

And I'm guessing most people who are listening to this right now are not in Paul's shoes.

You're not facing potential imprisonment or death for your faith in Jesus today.

Although I do want to lead us to pray for those who are in those

shoes, our brothers and sisters who are facing that decision today. So I want to lead us to pray for them.

And at the same time, I want to lead us to pray that if we ever find ourselves in those shoes, or even in the

shoes we are in today, that we would live ready to die. Because we know what Paul later says

in Philippians chapter one, to live is Christ and to die is gain. That's a win-win way to approach life. And the reality is none of us

are guaranteed to make it through the end of today. And so are you ready to die today? In Jesus,

do you have such rock-solid confidence in Jesus and in the eternal satisfaction you have in him, that you're ready to

be with him today if the Lord chooses to take your breath. And all the more so, if the Lord puts

...