Daily devotion – Wednesday 24th November 2021
How was the Apostle Paul and his companion Silas, though locked in stocks, in a dark dungeon, still able to sing and praise the Lord?
And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. – Acts 16:25
I cannot wait to meet Paul in Heaven and ask him about this time. Though they both had been cruelly beaten….laid many stripes upon them….separated from friends, unjustly accused – if any man had a right to complain, it was this man Paul and his friend Silas. But instead of complaints, their lips rang with words of praise and thanksgiving!
How was this possible? Could you or I follow such an example if we had been treated as such? But this was the Apostle Paul, a man who had learned to give thanks even in the midst of great adversity. How Paul must have understood the greatness of God’s love for him and the wonder of he being forgiven of all his sins!
As we look carefully at what Paul wrote during his prison experience: Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ – Ephesians 5:19-20.
Paul had learned the secret of being content in any and every situation – think about that for a moment, meditate on the power of God that is realised when no matter what, or where, we are overflowing with the amazement of God’s grace and His love for us – whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want…- Philippians 4:12
Pastor Marlon taught us so beautifully Sunday night through Paul’s first letter to Timothy – lay hold on eternal life….1 Tim 6:12.
This text means lay hold of the joy of the Christian life NOW!
This is what Paul and Silas had done so that even though they were in jail, the joy and love that God had given to them was still bubbling through every vein and artery in their being!
May we each too lay hold of this eternal life that God has given to us now!