And the Gospel Message Continues
Acts 16:16-21 16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.
19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”
These scriptures are packed full of experiences that shaped the church. First, if you go back to Acts 15:36 you will see a disagreement between Paul and Barnabas where Barnabas and John Mark went one direction and Paul and Silas went another.
Paul also met Timothy who later joined him on his missionary journey, he became acquainted with Lydia who was able to support the church with finances and prayer, and he had a vision that is known as “The Macedonian Call.” Ultimately, Paul and Silas ended up in jail, and around thirty years ago I wrote this little song about Paul’s experience.
When Paul and Silas were in that old jail, Beaten and bruised it seemed all hope had failed,
But Paul said to Silas, in spite of everything, sometimes you just have to sing
And they sang praises, praises when life gets you down you just have to stand and sing praises, praises, praises to the great I am.
I have found that praising God in the midst of trials is one of the best ways to overcome the enemy. Whether we are quoting a well memorized scripture or reading the Word out loud, singing a hymn of the church or one of our own making, we are, as an old preacher used to say, “giving the devil a black eye!”
May we purpose in our hearts to face each day with a song in our heart and praise on our lips.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, snd of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Seeking Holiness 