Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Could You Be A Paul & Silas

I heard a lot on Paul & Silas this week. I never really took a good hard look at this scripture before about when Paul and Silas were arrested and stripped, beaten, shackled and thrown into prison. I mean you know the story about the earthquake rattling the prison, and all the doors flying open, and the chains falling off. But how many times have you paid attention to the first part. The part right after the stripping, and beating and shackles. The part where Paul and Silas are praying and singing, yes did you get that, singing praises to the Lord. Now, when the pastor asked how many of you would have been giving thanks and singing praises to the Lord? I was all ready to say, yes amen, but then something caught in my throat. The Holy Spirit said, now wait a minute, would you really? You know I would like to say I would, but then I think, well, what if it was something bad done to one of my kids, or my husband, or a grandchild? Would you really sing praises to the Lord? This is an area, I need to start now practicing thanking Him in all things, so when and if a time comes in my life, I can stand and give God the glory and praise Him for what He is about to do for me.

There are 2 important points here, and I do not want anyone to miss them. The first point is this, the Lord did not bring this on you, He is not the one causing you harm, because the word says He can not look upon sin, and evil is sin. Only good comes from the Lord. So unless it is something good happening to you, it did not come from Him. But He will be faithful to bring you through whatever you are facing. The second point is this. When you stand and praise Him, and give thanks unto Him, you are not thanking Him for your trials, (whatever you are going through), you are giving thanks to Him for bringing you through. Because even though you might be right dead in the middle of it, your faith needs to be at the point that you are already thanking Him and giving Him the glory because you know that He is going to get you through no matter what.

Acts 16 vs 22-23....Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely....

Acts 16 vs25-26....But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 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 chains were loosed....

Now our Pastor made a good point here, that I never really paid too much attention to. When the chains were loosed, it said everyone's chains were loosed. Not just Paul & Silas. But yet no one made a run for it. Now don't you think if you were just previously beaten and thrown into jail you would want to make a run for it. I mean wouldn't you think, wow, God caused an earthquake to loosen our chains and open the doors so we could be free. But Paul had compassion on the jailer, and knew if they escaped he would be killed. When you read the story, the jailer knew this himself and was going to kill himself. But Paul told him to wait, no one had escaped. That brings me back to the point no one escaped. You see, Paul and Silas were being witnesses in their praying and giving thanks unto God even in the midst of their trials. The scripture says, the prisoners were listening. So instead of sleeping and waiting to see what will happen, Paul and Silas were faithful, stayed alert and awake to pray without ceasing to their Lord. Because they knew their Lord in such a personal way that they knew He would bring them out of this situation. And now back to Paul's compassion for the jailer. This act of caring caused the jailer and his entire family to become saved and want to know the Lord in this personal manner also.

So when you are faced with a trial, how will people around you see you react to the situation? Will you be the Christian with the faith you are told you can have, or will you fall apart and blame God for your trial? This is a question we all need to ask ourselves. We need to now prepare ourselves, to believe and trust in Him when times get rough and give Him Glory for bringing us through. So start practicing today giving thanks to Him in all things, not just for all things.

Neta

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