Your Faith Will Set You Free

"One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a demon-possessed slave girl. She was a fortune-teller who earned a lot of money for her masters. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, 'these men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved.' This went on day after day until Paul got so exasperated that he turned and said to the demon within her, 'I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.' And instantly it left her.  

Her masters' hopes of wealth were now shattered, so they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them before the authorities at the marketplace... A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn't escape. So the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks......" Acts 16:16-34

When I read this, all I could think was, 'This sucks!' Here Paul and Silas are in this strange place. They have given up everything to follow Jesus and spread His word. They just cast a demon out of a young girl and then they are stripped naked, beaten and thrown in jail! I don't know about you, but at this point I would be questioning God and asking Him, "Why?!" "Why have I given everything to follow you and this is how you treat me?!"

Yet scripture says that the next thing they do is... ''around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the other prisoners were listening." It's as though their circumstances had no effect on their faith. They still knew whose they were and the heart of the God that they were serving. They didn't question that God had turned against them or forgotten them because bad things happened. They understood that God needed to use them to show His glory.

The next part says this, "Suddenly there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off! 'The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and asked, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?'"

Their faith, set everyone else free!

I am challenged by this scripture, not to let circumstances affect my faith. To be so grounded in Christ, that I am not wavered by the things that happen to me. To remember and believe, that He is always fighting with me and for me.

May we find strength in the faith of Paul and Silas as we walk in the freedom of believing, that all our chains would fall and we would be set free.