Tuesday 24 May 2022

May 24: Acts 16:22-34

Key Verse: Acts 16:25
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them

Devotion:
Paul and Silas did what they believed was right; they were being mocked by a spirit within a woman who continually made her shout out things about them. Paul got so annoyed with her constant shouting he turn round and commanded the spirit to leave the woman – which it did! The problem being this spirit was how the woman made her living by fortune telling. When her owners heard she had the spirit removed they were annoyed because they would no longer be making a load of money from her!

The owners of the woman seized Paul and Silas and took them to court because they were reportedly doing things against the Roman laws! Well, the Roman laws demanded people would not worship anyone save their emperor. They even convinced the crowd to side with them and the magistrates caved in, ordering them to be flogged and thrown into prison!

Even after all that, Paul and Silas did not stop praying and singing hymns. They were not about to give up worshipping God, even in the face of danger and torture! God saw this and knew they were doing this because they loved God above all else. God did not sit back and do nothing. He caused a mighty earthquake to rock the prison and break them free.

The guards were very afraid because of the earthquake, but also very afraid because they knew they would be in deep trouble if the prisoners escaped! This put the jailer in a very awkward position and he was about to take his own life knowing he had no hope. Paul and Silas stopped him from harming himself and spent time talking to the jailer instead of trying to escape. Getting one more soul to come back to God was more important that their freedom!

Points to Ponder:
What do you do when people mock you about being a Christian?

Will you be more like Paul and Silas by worshipping God in the face of evil?