“After spending some time in Antioch, Paul went back through Galatia and Phrygia, visiting and strengthening all the believers.”
Acts 18:23 (NLT)
Paul did not just pass through the churches in Galatia and Phrygia. Acts says he visited them and strengthened all the believers. That word visiting carries weight. It means relationship, time, presence, and real life together. Paul had history with these people. He had seen God begin a work in them, and now he returns to help that work grow stronger.
There is something about godly leadership that does not create dependence on the leader. It leaves strength behind. Paul probably encouraged the elders, testified about what God was doing elsewhere, and taught them more of the good news. Paul likely stayed in their homes, ate at their tables, and had real conversations with them in the ordinary moments of life. The strength did not disappear when he left because it had been developed in them through relationship.
Before Paul went back out to strengthen others, he had also been refreshed by the church in Antioch. Even the one pouring out needed to be ministered to. That makes me wonder who I need to visit with and where I am moving too quickly between places, missing the kind of community God uses to strengthen his people. In my experience, strength is built when we pour out the love on others that God has poured out on us. Prayer around the table, encouragement around the table, love around the table, and foot washing around the table fill us up to do what God has called us to do.
If you feel weak today, don’t just pray about it. Change your rhythms. Change your schedule. Don’t neglect the things God continues to show us that we need in our lives to have his strength continually available to us. Slow down, visit, and do life with other believers. Have the unhurried conversations. Sit at the table, pray together, and encourage one another. As we point each other to heaven and grow in our walk with the Lord, there is strength we leave in one another to go do the work of being a disciple.