Acts 21:10-14

While we remained there for a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.  He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it, and said, “The Holy Spirit says this: ‘This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man whose belt this is, and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”  When we heard this, both we and the local people begged him not to go up to Jerusalem.  Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be tied up, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”  Because he could not be persuaded, we said no more except, “The Lord’s will be done.”

As Paul nears Jerusalem, the warnings continue about him facing persecution there. This is not new to Paul, who said before that the Holy Spirit had already revealed that persecution lay in store for him there. The consistency of the Holy Spirit is perfect, and at the same time those who care about Paul continually try to convince him not to go. This has the potential to act as temptation to Paul, but he stands firm and charges forward on the path God as laid before him. Throughout our lives lived in service to Jesus, we are sometimes called to difficult paths. Will we choose to stay the course and walk the path He has called us to, or will we take one of the easier roads suggested by temptation? Being led by the Holy Spirit takes the resolve to die to ourselves, like Jesus resolved to die on a cross to save us.