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Thursday, April 5, 2012

Acts 16:25-34

"About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, "Do not harm to yourself, for we are all here". And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." And they spoke the word of God to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them in the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God."
After saving a woman with a "spirit of divination" from this spirit, which caused her masters to loss "much gain", which made them angry enough to have them arrested- Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns!!! And this was definitely a way to minister to the other prisoners, because the bible tells us that they were listening. And, after God sent the earthquake, Paul and his companion didn't leave! And they didn't allow the jailer who was in charge of keeping them in prison to kill himself when he supposed that he had failed his job, either. Instead, they offered him comfort that they, and all the other prisoners, were still there.
Through this, the jailer was led to inquire into the way to be saved, and instead of bargaining with him ("We'll tell if you get us out!") or being angry ("This town has treated us awful, we will do no favors for anyone in it!"), the two men used this time of tribulation for the work God had for them right then and there- telling this man about Christ! And not just the jailer, but his whole family, and any visitors at his home, listened and learned.
Out of thankfulness to these two men for giving him the best news in the world, the jailer washed their wounds they had received at the orders of the magistrates, and asked to be baptized, and his family joined him!!! Then he brought them to his own house, and fed them. And he and his family "rejoiced that he had believed in God"!
A lot of people think that God will only give them good things. The rest is from Satan. But have you ever thought about the story of Job? Satan couldn't do ANYTHING to Job that God did not tell him to do. In fact, God was the one who brought up the conversation about Job that led to the testing of Job! So it can't be that Satan is the one in charge of the bad... God has ALL THINGS in control!
So, why does God allow any of these things to happen? Well, do you think that Paul and Silas thought that being put in prison was the best thing that ever happened to them? Probably not! But still, they had joy in the Lord, and ministered to many, many prisoners with the outflow of this joy. Singing hymns and praying... we don't know what they were praying for, but I'm sure it included those who had wronged them, and maybe even those around them! And, it turned out that it was most definitely God's plan- we're not sure how many people were in this family that got saved, but Paul and Silas were used to do it, and this couldn't have happened this way without the circumstances they were in. I'm sure they were thankful that the Lord could use them in this way! Of course, God could still have saved them if he had wanted, but really, don't you think that God had a reason for it to happen this way? God has a reason for everything!!!
So, although it can be hard, lets strive to live for Christ, knowing that he is in control of ALL the areas in our life- he is an amazing God, do we really think that he is too weak to stop Satan from doing evil? No. God allows the evil, to bring about his perfect plan... and THAT is WONDERFUL!

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