And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” (Acts 18:9–10, ESV)

When there is opposition to the gospel of Jesus Christ, what is your response? What do you believe?

In Acts 18, the Apostle Paul experienced great hostility for the faith as he preached it in the city of Corinth. He must have experienced some fear for the threats he endured, because one night in a vision, the Lord said to him, "Do not be afraid." And then the Lord told him to go on speaking. He said, "For I'm with you, and no one will attack you to harm you for I have many in this city who are my people."

I think it's safe to say that when there is opposition to the gospel, when we are marginalized as believers, our assumption is often that God doesn't have many people in a city or a state or a nation. But here the Lord said to Paul, "I have many people in this city, many you are going to reach, many who I will draw unto me."

I believe that this is a challenge for us in our modern time -- that we would continue to trust and have faith in the Lord, that we would believe in the potency of the gospel to pierce any culture, any time, any period, and that it can break through any ideology or any idol that has been constructed by any society. And as we trust the Lord, as we pray to the Lord, as we share his story lovingly with the community that we're in, let us trust and believe that Jesus has many people in this city.