HOW PAUL AND SILAS PRAISED GOD IN DIFFICULT TIMES ACTS

Описание: HOW PAUL AND SILAS PRAISED GOD IN DIFFICULT TIMES ACTS 16:16-34 | TITAPASTOR'S MUSINGS | 2022

   • HOW PAUL AND SILAS PRAISED GOD IN DIFFICUL...  

Paul and Silas were in Philippi, a city in ancient Macedonia, now known as Greece. This was Paul’s second missionary journey. They met with the local people of Philippi, told them about the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ, and prayed and fellowshipped with the new believers in the first church planted by Paul in Philippi. This church in Philippi was the first Christian church in Europe.
One day, as Paul and his companions, were going to the place of prayer where they meet with new believers, a slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination meets them. She was a fortune-teller. She earned a lot of money for her masters from fortune-telling.
The slave followed Paul and his companions for many days, shouting “These men are servants of the Highest God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.” (v. 17)
After several days of the slave girl repeatedly following Paul and his companions and shouting her message, Paul became annoyed although was accurate. Paul discerned a counterfeit – someone possessed by an evil spirit proclaiming the gospel of Christ, the source of her ability was not Christ, it was the devil. Paul confronted the demon in the Name of Jesus, ordering the demonic spirit to come out of her and it was gone!
The owners of the slave girl were furious at Paul and Silas because they lost a lot of money from her fortune-telling.
“Her masters’ hopes of wealth were now shattered, so they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities at the marketplace.”
The whole city of Philippi was very angry. They seized Paul and Silas and brought them to the city officials accusing them of being troublemakers who are “teaching customs that are illegal for us Romans to practice.” (v. 21)
An angry crowd gathered around Paul and Silas and when the city officials ordered Paul and Silas to be stripped of their clothing, beaten with wooden rods, and thrown in jail, the crowd joined in the attack. To make sure Paul and Silas could not escape, the jailer was ordered to keep a tight watch on them. The jailer in strict compliance with the order from the city officials brought Paul and Silas into the inner prison and fastened their feet in leg stocks. A leg stock is a contraption (usually made of wood) that keeps the prisoner in strict confinement. Fastening the feet in stocks forced their bleeding, lacerated legs into a painful and constrained posture. Leg stocks would go around the prisoner's ankles such that they cannot remove their feet or move from their position.
At around midnight, Paul and Silas, in solitary confinement in a claustrophobic, dark, inner jail room, with their legs stretched apart in shackles that caused them excruciating pain, started holding a worship service. They prayed and sang hymns to God while the other prisoners were listening to them.
The prisoners probably wondered where Paul and Silas were getting their strength to pray and the joy to sing praises to the Lord in their horrible situation and condition. In their challenging time, Paul and Silas knew they needed to call to God. They understood that this was one way the enemy, Satan’s way of opposing the work of the servants of God. They knew where to seek rest for their weary souls, Jesus is the source of your rest because His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)
[“Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God … Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, the prison was shaken to its foundations … the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off!” v. 25-26]
Suddenly, as if in direct answer to the prayer and praises of Paul and Silas to God, a strong earthquake shook the prison, and the doors came loose, and their chains fell off.


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