“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.” [1]
Paul rebuked an evil spirit out of a woman. Men were exploiting her for financial gain. Those men stirred up trouble against Paul and his ministry partner Silas, beat them severely and threw them in prison. What a terrible response to a divine miracle! What did Paul and Silas do? They kept on praying and praising God in songs, and the Lord did another miracle. He divinely set them free. [2]
Evil exploiters tried to bind up the Gospel from spreading with prison bars and chains, but the Lord broke their bars and chains, and even more unbelievers believed in Jesus.
“The keeper of the prison… supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, ‘Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.’ …And he brought them out and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.’” [3]
That prison guard “believed in God with all his household." [4]
May our Heavenly Father break chains of injustice and shake foundations of prisons that try to hinder unbelievers from receiving and believing the Good News of salvation that is in Jesus Christ.
[1] Acts 16:25-26
[2] Acts 16:16-24
[3] Acts 16:27-28, 30-31
[4] Acts 16:34
21st Century Jeremiah is a publishing site that is managed and operated by Mark Czanderna for the expressed purpose to provide for you free Bible-based and Christ-exalting resources. My goal is to align myself with the prophetic words of God as carefully and accurately as Jeremiah the prophet did in his day, but include the additional revelations that the Lord Jesus Christ provided for us in the Gospels, the Book of Acts, the Epistles of the Apostles and the Book of Revelation.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment