Paul and Silas in Prison

Prayer Practice

Cup Prayer – This prayer will help you pour your heart out to God (Ps. 62:8). Begin with your hands folded together like an upside-down cup. Pour out before God all your fears, anxieties, guilt, sin and shame. Tell Him what troubles you. Take time to be specific. When you feel like you’ve poured out your heart, flip your hands over, folding them like an open cup, ready to receive from God. Sit in silence, asking God simply to fill you with His Spirit. If your mind runs back to sin, shame, anxiety or concerns of the day, flip your hands back over and pour it out to the Lord. When you are finished praying, read today’s Scripture and listen as God shares His heart back with you.

DAILY READING

Acts 16:16-40

REFLECTION

God’s Kingdom Work Is Disruptive

 by Dan Kidd

God’s Kingdom work is disruptive. This story is great evidence of that.

We begin with a woman (perhaps a girl) doubly tormented; first having been invaded by an enemy spirt, slavers then exploited her woundedness by profiting from her demonic possession. This unfortunate slave girl was being used by this enemy spirit to badger Paul and his fellow disciples. After “many days,” Paul reaches the end of his patience and commands the spirit to leave her.

Some passages produce more questions than they provide answers. For instance:

How can the enemy profit from telling the truth—the Gospel truth—about who these disciples are and what they are about? Is there a way in which even that kind of truth can be counterproductive to God’s mission?

Also, why did it take “many days” of this annoyance before Paul exorcised this demon from her? And why wasn’t Paul’s compassion for this abused slave the primary motivator for his Kingdom work, rather than his annoyance? What might that say about how God uses us—even the most evangelistic and empowered among us—despite ourselves?

At any rate, she is healed. God’s Kingdom work of setting her free from her demonic captive is done, and as is so often the case, this meant a profound interruption to those benefitting from the shadowy circumstances of evil’s corruption. In this case, the slave girl’s abusers were so enraged that their scheme was dismantled that they drug Paul and Silas before the Roman authorities who tore their clothes from them, beat them, and jailed them.

But God’s Kingdom work is disruptive.

At midnight, the Holy Spirit appeared again to cause some holy mischief: this time in the form of an earthquake so powerful it flung open every door in the jail. Paul and Silas, who had spent their night thus far in a worship set, were free to go—along with the rest of the prisoners.

The story could have ended here, but God was not done with his disruptions just yet. The Spirit saw a jailor who believed he had just lost his prisoners—and they’d taken with them every shred of dignity he had. He’d failed the singular purpose of his life, and his life was over. The Spirit saw otherwise. Paul and Silas shouted out to the jailor, imploring him not to end his life. Looking at them, the jailor realized that they had something to offer him that could save him. That morning, he and his family were saved into a new life; the waters of baptism setting them on a new course.

How open am I to the disruptiveness of God’s Kingdom work? Do I recognize where the Holy Spirit might want to turn the present order upside down? Am I available to be a conduit for God’s disruptive work, and, if I’m honest with myself, would I let the Holy Spirit use me for God’s interruptive purposes?  Lord, let it be.

Being Freed from the Shackles of “What is in it for me?”

Read: Acts 16:16-40

We have all been taught that if something seems too good to be true, it is. Why is that?  Our experience tells us that if someone is offering us something, there are always strings attached.  If we hear about a FREE offer, we immediately ask, “What’s the catch?” Or “What is their hidden agenda?”

We see it in our own actions and attitudes too, right?  The social law of reciprocity, if I scratch your back, you will scratch mine.  I will be nice to you, so you will buy from me, or so I can further my agenda. 

It feels like such a lonely desert of emptiness, doesn’t it?

I see this playing out in today’s story.  As Paul is on his way to pray in the book of Acts, he is confronted with a fortune teller who says, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”  He gets annoyed with this after it happens for several days and he commands the evil Spirit to come out of her. 

The woman is healed!  Yet instead seeing her healing as a joy, her owners were angry that their lucrative “meal ticket” has been taken away from them.  Do you ever see this attitude in yourself?  When someone else at work gets well deserved accolades, or you see someone else enjoying a special vacation, a relationship. Is there a sting in your heart?

Paul and Silas are imprisoned for healing this woman.  They pray and sing praises as they are confined and shackled.  At midnight, a mighty earthquake breaks open the prison cells and loosens the chains.  God had rescued Paul and Silas!  Certainly, God provided this miracle to set them free, right?

When the jailer awakes, he tries to end his life.  He knew the punishment for allowing his prisoners to escape. He would be subjected to the punishment that each of them deserved. 

But at that moment, Paul cries out, “Do not harm yourself! We are all still here!”  Why do you suppose Paul and Silas stayed?  Why did they not escape while they had the chance?  After all, God had provided this miracle, they should take this gift while they have the chance!!

In stark contrast to the emptiness of self-serving agendas, Paul knew the consequences that would fall on this jailer if they escaped.  Having soaked himself in prayer and praise all night in chains, he followed the lead of the One who had once shown mercy on him. Paul had been unshackled by the Grace of Jesus, to live a different kind of life.

Lord, as I look at my own life, I often see my actions are often prompted by “what’s in it for me” agendas.  Your secret ambition was to give Yourself up for me when I did not deserve it.  Help me to bath myself in prayer and praises of gratitude so that I too may give up my life, to live differently, seeking to show unselfish love with no hidden agenda, as You have loved me.