Paul accepted the reality of adversarial pressure. He did not pray or wish it away. He acknowledged persecution like a fact of life in service to the Lord. For Paul, “a great door for effective work” was worth the opposition. Not every promise of God is pleasant or comfortable.
“But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me,” (1st Corinthians 16.8-9).
