Paul's Journey to Jerusalem - Pt. 17: Built Up
- Baptist Daily Devotional
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Rev. Osei Kwabena Nkrahene | December 5 2025 | Acts 20:32-35
KEY VERSE: “And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” (Acts 20:32, KJV)
MESSAGE:
Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian pastors had two aims: that God would build them up and that they would receive the inheritance prepared for the sanctified. Today, we reflect on the first. In Acts 20:27, Paul reminds them that he taught the whole counsel of God. Now he entrusts them to God and to His word, which continues the work of strengthening believers. In the Christian life, building up never stops.
Acts shows this clearly. In Acts 20:4, we meet Paul’s co-workers — men formed through the earlier missionary journeys. They had been built up and became useful partners in ministry. In Acts 18:24-28, Aquila and Priscilla helped Apollos grow in understanding, and he became a powerful worker for God. In Acts 11:19-26, Barnabas and Paul strengthened the new believers in Antioch, and it was there that the disciples were first called Christians. Acts 19 also shows how the small Ephesian group was nurtured into a strong community.
Where believers are not built up, they become unstable and easily misled, as Ephesians 4:12-14 explains. Being strengthened in the word protects, equips, and prepares believers for meaningful service.
FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE:
Paul prayed that the leaders would be built up, and we are called to do the same. Pray intentionally for your own growth and for the growth of others, just as Epaphras did (Colossians 4:12). Make building up people a regular practice in your church or small group. Encourage someone, teach someone, strengthen someone. A growing church is made up of growing believers.
PRAYER:
Lord Jesus Christ, continue to build me up by Your word and by Your grace. Strengthen my faith, shape my character, and help me build others up as You have built me. Amen.
THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING.
SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!
The 365 DAILY BIBLE READING
DAILY word study: BUILD The Greek word oikodomeō means to build, to strengthen, to establish, to make more able. It carries the sense of constructing something solid and stable. In the New Testament, it often refers to the strengthening of believers through teaching, truth, and God’s grace.
Paul commits the Ephesian leaders to “the word of His grace,” because that word has the power to grow and mature them and to give them spiritual strength. Growth in the Christian life is not a moment; it is a continuous process of building. God uses His Word, community, and daily obedience to strengthen our foundation.
Reflect on this:
Ask God to keep building you through His Word. Let every teaching, every correction, and every encouragement shape your life. Spiritual growth is intentional, steady, and deeply transformative.
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