Separated to the gospel of God

Romans 1:1
Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God

Paul introduces himself before the letter of Romans, calling himself an apostle and more interestingly "separated to the gospel of God". This highlights his whole mission and aim after finding Christ. He has become totally devoted and committed to the gospel to see that it reaches as many people as possible. It is no longer a religious practise or theology for the few who are privileged. Paul has taken on the Great Commission upon himself and was living it out. He would have regarded himself as an instrument to be used by God, hence the passive structure of the sentense describing himself to be separated to the gospel.

And Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision

1 Samuel 3:15
So Samuel lay down until morning,[b] and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision. 16 Then Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son!”
He answered, “Here I am.”

In this passage, the Lord told Samuel about His displeasure of Eli's household and that He will do something against that household. Samuel knew that it was the Lord who spoke but was initially reluctant to pass the message on, probably because he did not want to hurt Eli.

Part of the job of a prophet is to bring warnings against those who are walking opposite to God. Before Jesus' time, only selected people are chosen to be prophets. After Jesus' time, there is still the role of prophet, pastors, teachers, evangelists and so on. However, most of us who have the Holy Spirit in us, are meant to hear from God. And there will be occasions that God may want to use us to bring a word of warning to our brothers and sisters. Are we preparing ourselves to be used by God and deliver God's message or do we filter and censor God's messages?

So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting

Acts 26:15
So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

Paul, when he was Saul, was seriously persecuting the followers of Yshua. We may not know fully what the persecution involved but it was very likely to include a lot of violence towards the persecuted. One example was that Saul was presiding, probably instigating the stoning of Stephen - the first to die for our Lord.

Obviously Saul had not physically harmed Yshua, as far as we know. But his actions are regarded as being done on our Lord, when he persecuted His children. Putting aside modern day persecution of Christians by other groups, Christians too may be persecuting each other knowingly or otherwise. If we are not careful of what we say or how we "wear our Christianity" we could be offending the younger Christians, and by doing so we may be persecuting our Lord too.

Luke 17:2
It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

Matthew 18:6
“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?

Acts 26:14
And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

When Saul (Paul) heard this from the Lord, He was confused about how he actually persecuted the glorious Being that appeared before him. Although he did not at first recognized it was the Risen Jesus of Nazareth, he knew this being to be a heavenly being.

Today, we may be persecuting Yshua without realising it. The things we do which goes against His will, the things we do in His name but not actually His will, the things we do to built up religion around Yshua instead of actually pointing people to Yshua and a whole lot more, may actually be persecuting our Lord. So then how do we not persecute the Lord? The answer is to surrender and do not our will but His will. This is of course easier said than done but the only way to know His will is to be in close communion and walk with Him all the time.

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Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on

Matthew 6:25
Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

A simple statement from our Lord Yshua not to worry about our life - in particular not to worry about providing for our life; because He is the Provider Jehovah Jireh. Even many of our friends may give us the "do not worry" advice as a general sweeping advice. However when Yshua said it, he also meant that we can trust that He will provide - this is the reason that we do not need to worry for ourselves.

Yshua's advice of not to worry, specifically targets the fundamental needs of human beings, which are food and clothing. He could have chosen other things to tell us not to worry about. Instead, He chose these fundamental items of life itself to tell us that He is fully in control of our lives and is able to provide for our most essential needs. It is when we have the faith in Yshua, then this freedom from worry allows us to do greater things for Him.

Will He not much more clothe you

Matthew 6:30
Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

It is sometimes hard for us to imagine how much God cares for us. This passage uses the analogy of wildlife to show how much God cares. The birds and plants and all other animals are created by Him, including us humans. Yet the wildlife go about their natural things and it is obvious that God provides for them.
Humans are the height of God's creation. It should also be obvious that He cares for us too. No matter we can understand it or not, we need to have faith like Abraham and believe that God will care for us.

But when it pleased God

Galatians 1:15
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace.

The phrase to look at here is "But when it pleased God". Often we do things to please ourselves. Even when serving God, there is an element of pleasing ourselves first. Another aspect might be that we are working so that God may be pleased or to please Him. There is nothing wrong with these. However we should remember that sometimes it is not about what we can do. Sometimes it pleases God to make something happen. That is God 's grace and it is something that we should embrace and direct or will towards God's will.