Agabus the Prophet

Once, when the Apostle Paul was staying with Phillip in Caesarea, Agabus the prophet came down from Judea to give him the word of the Lord. The full story is found in Acts 21 and takes most of the chapter, especially verses 8 through 30. I won't quote the entire story here, but if you want to see it in context, that is where you can find it.

Agabus took Paul's belt, bound his own (Agabus's) feet and hands, and delivered his message from the Holy Spirit: In this way, the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

This was no big shock for Paul. If you back up to chapter 20, you will see that he had said tearful goodbyes when he left Ephesus, even before he sailed for Philip's house. Everyone there understood that the next time they saw Paul, they'd have all crossed over into glory. But long before that, even from the first days of Paul's ministry, he understood that this day of being bound up and taken into custody was coming. The Spirit of God, through visions, prophetic words, and his inward witness had shown him how much he would suffer for the sake of the name of the Lord. cf Acts 9:16.

Nonetheless, the other believers and local residents of Caesarea found Agabus's prophecy distressing. You could say that they had 'misgivings' and 'concerns.' They begged Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. They were wildly out of line. Their objections and misgivings were the result of looking on with worldly eyes, and they made life a lot harder for Paul than it should have been. Paul had known going in that there would be suffering, but now he was getting grief from believers who loved him! 

In short order, (see Acts 21:13,) Paul had to correct them, "What are you doing? Why are you weeping and breaking my heart?"
Personally, I don't think 'heartbroken' was his first reaction. The heartbroken part probably came after he saw how deep and widespread their begging him not to go was. And the heartbroken part wasn't because he knew he had a tough time ahead; his heart was broken because so many people were trying to interfere and stop the will of God.

It is easy to see that Paul was prepared for the next and final season of his life because he said, "I am ready to not only be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." He was, as they say, "All in." He could not be persuaded to jump off the path that God had chosen for him.

The prophecy was fulfilled and he was captured and bound when he went to Jerusalem for Passover, but he did not die there in Jerusalem. He would go on to give his defense before the people there, Acts 21:40; before the council, Acts 22:30; before Felix, Acts 24; eventually before his successor, Porcius Festus, who heard his appeal to Caesar and sent him to Agrippa, Acts 25; before Agrippa, Acts 26; before the sailors and the islanders of Malta when he was shipwrecked during his transfer to Rome, Acts 27; and when he did reach Rome, during the two years that he was under house arrest there, he wrote letters that comprise a major chunk of the New Testament, witnessing to millions across the centuries, even billions over two millennia.

The Lesson
What does this have to do with the Runaway bride? Well, what if those who had reservations, uncertainties, and 'issues' had been able to persuade Paul and derail him from pursuing God's plan for his life? What if they had been able to convince him that he should "do the right thing" and take
Agabus's accurate prophecy as a sign that he should not go to Jerusalem? Think about it. 

This is what happened to KatieLyn, the runaway bride. Instead of trusting what the Lord had shown her and walking out His plan for her life by faith, she listened to 'the arguments of the people who loved her in Caesarea' and was persuaded to call it quits. But the people were wrong. They loved Paul and wanted only the best for him, but they were wrong. Fortunately, Paul could not be swayed by the people's misgivings. Acts 21:14 says, "And since he could not be persuaded, we fell silent, remarking, 'The will of the Lord be done.'" 

Joe had trusted KatieLyn to be more like Paul. At least in Paul's experience, when he told them that he was ready to fulfill God's plan, the people shut up and decided to let the will of the Lord be done.

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The difference here is that Paul did not suffer any crippling issues with codependency. He was not at the mercy of the opinion of others, nor was he willing to be victimized by the words of even such well-respected authority figures as Philip the Evangelist or Agabus the Prophet. Paul knew who he was, he knew the Lord's will for his life, and he could not be persuaded otherwise.