Chapter-a-Day

Political Imprisonment

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Political Imprisonment (CaD Acts 24) – Wayfarer

At the same time {Governon Felix] was hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe, so he sent for him frequently and talked with him.
Acts 24:26 (NIV)

Wendy and I are long-time readers of the Wall Street Journal. Over the past year, we’ve been following the case of Evan Gershkovich, a WSJ journalist in Russia, who has been arrested and imprisoned on a trumped-up charge of espionage. It is a game the Putin regime plays on a regular basis, arresting high-profile individuals who can be traded for his henchmen who have been captured in the West. It’s a terrible situation for the victims like Gershkovich who’s done nothing to deserve his fate, but it has worked time-and-time-again for Putin, so he’ll keep doing it. It’s the way the world works.

In today’s chapter, Paul is tried before the Roman Governor, a corrupt and incompetent leader named Felix. Felix only lasted a few years as Governor and was eventually recalled to Rome to answer for his poor leadership.

It’s easy to miss the political game into which Paul has been swept, but it’s important context. Paul has one motivation: To be a witness of Jesus, His resurrection, and the eternal salvation He offers. For every other player in the events of these final chapters of Acts, their motivations are personal and political.

The Roman Empire holds sway throughout the Western world. The Empire’s prevailing desire is to maintain power, maintain peace, and keep tax revenues flowing to Rome. In Judea, keeping the peace means dealing with the Jewish leaders who control the Jewish population. The Jews hate the Romans and the Romans despise the Jews, but they have to deal with one another.

To complicate the issue, Paul was born a Roman citizen. His parents were tentmakers in Tarsus, and were likely providers of tents for the Roman legions. It’s speculated that their family may have been granted citizenship for their service in outfitting Roman armies, or perhaps they were wealthy enough to purchase citizenship.

Being a citizen of Rome was not something every person born in the Empire received like you do in countries like the United States. Citizenship had to be purchased or granted, and relatively few people had it. Roman citizenship was more like having an elite status with the airlines that gave you all sorts of perks like free first-class upgrades that the majority of fliers back in economy class could only dream about.

The Jewish ruling council couldn’t just deal with Paul as they did Jesus, who was a nobody in Rome’s eyes. Rome took care of its citizens, which means Felix has a political blue-chip in Paul. The Jews want Paul dead, but Felix holds the power to give them what they want or hold on to Paul and string them along just to make them mad. Furthermore, being a citizen was typically a sign of wealth, and Paul’s testimony was that he came to Jerusalem with money for the poor. If Paul has access to money, perhaps he will offer Felix a bribe for his release. Felix doesn’t care about Paul. He cares about himself, his pocketbook, and his power.

The thing I found fascinating as I meditated on the chapter this morning is to compare Paul to everyone else in the situation. Paul is simply a disciple of Jesus who is focused entirely on bringing God’s Kingdom to earth in any and every way he can. This is such a contrast to both Felix and the Jewish leaders who represent people of this world, living for this world, and representing kingdoms of this world. Felix keeps summoning Paul for conversations hoping Paul will offer him a bribe. Why would Paul offer Felix a bribe? Paul cares more about the opportunity to talk to Felix, the Roman Governor, about Jesus than he cares about his freedom.

In the quiet this morning, I can’t help but wonder how I might fare if I were unjustly arrested and detained simply because of my faith. As I think about it, I tend to think that the situation would reveal a lot about me and that which I believe. If I am focused on this life and the things of this world, then it would likely cause all sorts of spiritual, mental, and physical anguish. If, however, I am focused on God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, then I suspect I have a completely different attitude entirely.

Of course, I hope never to end up in those circumstances. Yet, as I reflect on it in the quiet, I realize that the same contrast exists today as I live in freedom and affluence. Do my life and my actions reflect a person who is living for this world and the things of this world, or do they reflect a person living to bring God’s Kingdom to earth?

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Politics and Religion

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Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.”
Acts 23:6 (NIV)

It is a major election year here in the United States, which means that politics is already at a fever pitch and it’s only going to get worse. Both the trials of a former President and a number of important appeals before the Supreme Court with regard to hot political issues and elections have put politics and the legal system on a collision course.

Another hot topic of late is a new book by Salman Rushdie regarding his miraculous survival of being attacked and stabbed 15 times. Rushdie has famously been living under the threat of a fundamentalist Islamic fatwa calling for his death for decades.

Politics and religion are both kingdoms of this world and I have long observed that they often intertwine. They came to mind this morning as I read the chapter. Paul is on trial before the religious ruling council in Jerusalem, the same body that tried Jesus and had Him executed some 20 years earlier. Now it is Paul who has threatened their power and fundamentalist religious politics.

You’ve got to hand it to Paul. He was a lawyer trained by the very system that is now trying him. He knows that system and its internal politics as well as anyone, and he makes a brilliant political move. Paul knew that the ruling council was politically divided into two major factions who hated one another. He also knew that the major divisive issue between the two factions was whether there was a resurrection and life after death. So, he loudly proclaims “I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.”

It was a shrewd political play. Suddenly, he shifts the focus from himself and Jesus and stirs the festering theological rancor that divides the ruling council itself. In making a stand for “resurrection,” he makes allies of every Pharisee on the ruling council while tearing off the scab of a festering conflict within the ruling body itself. The entire ruling council erupts, turns on each other, and Paul is whisked away by the Romans amidst the tumult. Paul was a Roman citizen, and he knew that the Romans would politically refuse to let the Jewish ruling council harm one of their citizens.

Paul is safely placed under the political protection of Rome, while 40 of his fundamentalist religious enemies take an oath to neither eat nor drink until they’ve murdered him. I can’t help but think that Paul and Salman Rushdie could have a fascinating conversation about living under the threat of death from fundamentalist religion.

Politics and religion. Two kingdoms of this world combine to make a combustible cocktail. It was true in the events of today’s chapter. This is true in current events. All I have to do is read the headlines.

In the quiet this morning, I am once again reminded of the contrast between the kingdoms of this world, and the Kingdom of God that Jesus brought to this world. The Kingdom of God on earth is focused on each individual disciple who is empowered and called upon to live and relate in a manner consistent with Jesus’ teaching and opposite the kingdoms of this world. If my personal faith in Jesus and my focus on daily living as His disciple transforms into being just another member of an earthly, collective religious system then my faith withers on the Vine and I become just another religious minion subject to a kingdom of this world.

Note: I will be out traveling on business for the next two days. Lord willing, I will plan on posting again on Friday, April 26.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

“Those People”

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“Those People” (CaD Acts 22) – Wayfarer

The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!”
Acts 22:22 (NIV)

I gave a message to our local gathering of Jesus’ followers yesterday. We’re in an interesting and challenging series of messages in which we’re exploring how we react and respond when our lives get interrupted. This can take the form of life itself interrupting with challenges, struggles, trials, and tragedies. It can also be what happens when Jesus interrupts as He did multiple times to multiple people after the resurrection in John chapters 20 and 21.

In today’s chapter, Paul is being escorted by Roman soldiers to the Roman barracks for his own safety. The riotous crowd of his fellow Jews were following, screaming death threats, and threatening to stone Paul. In a courageous act, Paul asks the Roman soldiers to let him address the crowd.

Paul starts by providing his religious resume. Paul was raised and educated in Jerusalem and was a student of a man considered the greatest teacher of the time. He was a card-carrying member of the most powerful theological sect and had been the most zealous hunter and prosecutor of Jesus’ followers.

Then Jesus interrupted his trip to Damascus.

What’s interesting about this version of Paul’s story is that he gives us an additional detail that Luke failed to mention when he reports the story back in Chapter 9. After his conversion, Paul went back to Jerusalem. He went back to the Temple to pray. We don’t know where this event was on the timeline of Paul’s life. While praying, Paul fell into a trance and God told him to leave Jerusalem because the Jews there wouldn’t accept his story. Instead, God tells him, “I will send you far away to the (non-Jewish) Gentiles.”

With this statement, the crowd immediately erupts back into their murderous rage.

The good religious Jews of this time were prejudiced against those who were not Jewish. Keep in mind that the Law of Moses specifically commanded them to love foreigners living among them as they love themselves (Lev 19:34). Like good lawyers, they found ways to twist the Law to justify doing the opposite. Even the Jews who had become disciples of Jesus struggled with accepting Gentiles as equals.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself thinking about my own prejudices. Yes, I have them. I suspect we all do to one degree or another. I once gave a message and asked my listeners to close their eyes. I then asked them who came to mind when I said the words “those people.” I had more than one person tell me that day that they had to confess their own prejudices after that.

It’s easy for me to point the finger at the Jews of Jerusalem whose racism against anyone not Jewish is glaring in the story. As a disciple of Jesus, I’m commanded to actually obey the command to love others as I love myself without loopholes, addendums, or exemptions. I can’t honestly Confess “Jesus is Lord” unless I honestly confess and repent of my own prejudices against those who pop to mind when I consider “those people.”

When Jesus interrupted Paul’s life, he was required to learn to love and embrace the very people he’d been systemically taught to ignore and even despise. Jesus asks the same of me.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Wayfarer Podcast

Interview with Heather Holdsworth

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Artist Heather Holdsworth, Author of “Landscape of Hope”

A year or two ago, I had the joy of meeting Heather Holdsworth via email when she reached out about one of my chapter-a-day posts in the Psalms. Our correspondence quickly turned to friendship. A resident of Scotland, we had several common touchpoints including our daughter and her family just living down the highway from Heather’s home in St. Andrews. She has a wonderful story, and I fell in love with her artwork on her website HeatherHoldsworth.com.

I asked Heather to be on the Wayfarer Weekend podcast a long time ago, but she was busy finishing her book Landscape of Hope at the time. The book is now published. I actually gave the book to three people this past Christmas and they all have given rave reviews of both Heather’s artwork and her insight on the Psalms.

Heather and I finally found an opportunity to connect for an interview. I think you’re going to love getting to know her. I encourage you to check out her website. She can also be found on Facebook and Instagram as HeatherHoldsworthWrites. Cheers!

Heather Holdsworth Interview (WW) – Wayfarer

Chapter-a-Day

Death & Discipleship

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Death & Discipleship (CaD Acts 21) – Wayfarer

When [Paul] would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”
Acts 21:14 (NIV)

The great German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him ‘Come and die.’”

That’s not the kind of sentiment you’ll find stamped on key chains and coffee mugs at your local Christian bookstore. Nevertheless, the path of discipleship is one of surrender and obedience to go wherever I might be led. Along my life journey, I’ve observed that people love Jesus’ statements about knowing the truth, loving little children, and being set free. His statement that no one can be a disciple unless they are willing to suffer and die doesn’t get as much airplay.

In today’s chapter, Paul makes his return to Jerusalem despite the fact that it was a tremendous risk for him to do so, and Paul knew it. In yesterday’s chapter, he was convinced he would never see his friends in Ephesus again. In today’s chapter, a prophet proclaims that he will be arrested and bound if he goes there. Everyone tries to convince him not to do it. Paul will not be deterred. He declares to his friends that he’s willing not only to be arrested but also killed if it comes to that. Indeed, this will be a fateful trip that will set the course for the rest of his earthly life.

Luke does not record Paul’s reasoning for being so adamant about going to Jerusalem. From his letters, it is obvious that Paul was constantly seeking divine guidance regarding his travels and ministry. His stubborn determination and resignation regarding his fate can only lead me to believe that he believed, without a doubt, that this was what God was leading him to do.

Having just been through the season of Lent and having just completed our chapter-a-day journey through John, I am reminded that Jesus went to Jerusalem with equal determination. Jesus was urged not to do so for fear of being arrested. Jesus literally pushed the buttons that led to His execution. Paul is doing the exact same thing.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself meditating on this core tenant of being Jesus’ disciple in which one comes to understand that an earthbound perspective is all wrong. God’s eternal kingdom is the ultimate reality while this earthly existence and journey is but a shadow of that reality. Paul understood that well. He wrote to the disciples in Corinth: “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” He wasn’t afraid of what might happen to him. He welcomed it.

There’s always a tension for me in contemplating this sense of ultimate surrender while readily acknowledging that I live in the most free and affluent human society that the earth has ever known. Nevertheless, I think it worthwhile to honestly contemplate how surrendered I really am. If I really believe what I say I believe, then death is not to be feared but embraced as a gateway to the realization of eternal reality.

Note: I will be out the next two days, returning to this chapter-a-day journey next Monday.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

On Miracles and Prophecy

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On Miracles and Prophecy (CaD Acts 20) – Wayfarer

“Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again.”
Acts 20:25 (NIV)

Along my journey, I have witnessed some pretty cool things with regard to the miraculous and prophetic. This coming weekend I’m going to drop a Wayfarer Weekend Podcast and my interview with a wonderful Scottish lady and amazing artist, Heather Holdsworth. In the interview, Heather shares about her debilitating experience with Long Covid as well as her sudden and unexpected healing. Her doctor even showed her the note he put in her medical file: “Miraculous recovery.”

Likewise, I have had people give me words of prophecy that were really quite amazing. Several years ago, I was approached by a headhunter and interviewed for the job of CEO of a company in a completely different city hours away from where we live. I was one of two finalists for the job. Wendy and I kept this very private.

About this time, after a particularly difficult meeting with my business partner on a Friday, I shared with a close friend the following Sunday morning about my frustrations. I told him about how I wished for the job I’d interviewed for, and how I wanted that other job in another city where I could move to a new place and start fresh in a new company.

As we were walking out a few minutes later, a different friend happened upon us. I knew from previous experience that she had a prophetic gift. She said she wanted to pray for me, and I agreed As she was praying over me, she suddenly said, “The Father says to you, ‘I see the suitcases in your hands. I want you to let go and drop them.’” It was pretty wild. Sometimes, God does give clear direction.

But not always.

I have also experienced those who boldly and intensely proclaim that God has revealed this or that is going to happen. But, then it doesn’t.

In today’s chapter, Paul experiences the miraculous when a boy named Eutychus falls to his death and Paul brings the boy back to life. Then Paul calls for a meeting with the elders among the believers in Ephesus. Paul is on his way to Jerusalem, and he tells the Ephesians elders that he knows he will never see them again. He gives them what he believes is his final encouragement to them. They have a teary and emotional goodbye.

But Paul was wrong.

Years after the events of today’s chapter, after the final events recorded in Acts, Paul made a final visit to Ephesus. He references it in the opening of his first letter to Timothy (1 Tim 1:3).

In the quiet this morning, this had me meditating on the nature of prayer and the prophetic. I have many stories of people experiencing miraculous healing. I have many stories of the prophetic like the one I just shared. But, I also have stories of difficult situations in which the miraculous didn’t happen, and times when people utter emphatic and prophetic “sure things” don’t happen.

I have learned along my journey to hold on loosely with regard to miraculous promises and prophetic proclamations. One comment I read about Paul’s proclamation he would never see the Ephesians said, “the gift of prophecy does not mean omniscience.” Indeed, it does not. So, I humbly embrace and have faith that God can and does work in miraculous ways and speak through prophecy. At the same, I’m mindful of Bob Dylan’s lyric about God: “You think He’s just an errand boy to satisfy your wandering desires.” God is God. I am not. Faith is believing what God can do while maintaining Job’s humble and surrendered attitude: “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.”

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Three Forces Rule the World

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Three Forces Rule the World (CaD Acts 19) – Wayfarer

The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there.
Acts 19:32 (NIV)

I saw a meme on social media over the weekend that caught my eye. It was a quote from Albert Einstein who said, “Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear, and greed.” The more I meditated on this notion, the more I realized the truth of it.

The quote came to mind this morning as I read today’s chapter because all three forces are at work during Paul’s stay in Ephesus. Paul’s presence and Jesus’ Message had a powerful effect in Ephesus. So many people were choosing to believe in Jesus that the local union of idol makers began to fear (there’s the fear) that they would lose significant income (there’s the greed). So, they grabbed two of Paul’s companions and started a protest in the city’s amphitheater. The protest grew into a confusing, riotous mob, and many of the people who joined in had no idea what they were rioting about (there’s the stupidity). Eventually, a local official got control of the crowd and convinced them to disperse and take up their grievances through proper legal channels.

The local Jews had been so obstinate in refusing to believe Jesus’ Message through Paul, that Paul gave up going to the local synagogue. I found it fascinating that the local Jews participated in the idol makers’ protest. How fascinating that for hundreds of years, God spoke through the prophets and sent His people into exile in part because they wouldn’t give up their idolatry. Here, the Jews of Ephesus reject God’s Son and support the local idolatry union. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

In the quiet this morning, I found myself meditating on how the forces of fear, greed, and stupidity are at play in our own time and in our world. Paul and the disciples in Ephesus displayed the opposite of fear, greed, and stupidity. Paul was unafraid of the angry mob but wisely chose not to go to the theater and make a bad situation worse. When an entire group of sorcerers became believers, they chose to burn all of their sorcery and witchcraft scrolls which were worth fifty thousand drachmas. A greedy person would have sold them instead.

On the night of His arrest, Jesus told His disciples that He wanted them in the world proclaiming and living out His Message. In a world driven by fear, greed, and stupidity, Jesus wanted His disciples to live lives of peace, generosity, and wisdom so that others in the world could see the contrast, and be drawn to the Message. It’s a good reminder as I start another work week. Lord, help my daily life to be marked by your peace, generosity, and wisdom.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Friends and Flow

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Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures.
Acts 18:24 (NIV)

Many years ago, I gave a message. I don’t even remember what the message was about, to be honest. What I do remember, however, is that in preparation for the message I made a list of key relationships in my life journey and charted them on a timeline of my life. These “key relationships” meant that they were friends who had a significant presence, role, and impact on my life and spiritual journey.

I remember that the exercise taught me a couple of major lessons. First, I realized that there are different types of relationships. Some relationships were significant for a key season of my journey, but then that relationship ended. I call these “relationships for a season.” Some relationships weave in and out of life in multiple seasons spread out across the journey. I think of these as “recurring relationships.” And then there are relationships that I’ve come to refer to as “Life” relationships because it doesn’t matter the time and space between correspondence, the relationship runs so deep that no amount of time or distance diminishes it.

The events of today’s chapter roughly take place around 51-52 AD. It’s been fifteen years since Paul’s fateful trip to Damascus with murderous intention to persecute the followers of Jesus there. Jesus appeared to him on the road and, in an instant, he went from being the disciples’ greatest adversary to becoming their greatest advocate. For fifteen years Paul has been traveling throughout Greece and Italy sharing Jesus’ Message to any and all who will listen to him.

What struck me about today’s chapter is that as the Jesus Movement expanded throughout the Roman Empire a new cast of characters entered the Story. We meet Priscilla and Aquila, believers from Rome who will become key relationships in Paul’s life and ministry. Then there’s Apollos, a man who simply shows up out of nowhere, but he will have a major, positive impact on the Jesus Movement and Paul will refer to him with great respect in his letters to the believers in Corinth.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself thinking about the lessons I’ve learned through these key relationships. First of all, hindsight allows me to see that there is a certain “flow” to relationships that weave in and out of life. It’s rare that a relationship begins with some type of conscious decision. I’ve never “chosen” a friend by looking at a person across the room and saying “I want that person to be a key relationship in my life!” There is life flow to key relationships in my story that I don’t control. Trust the Story.

This brings me to another lesson, which is that in trusting the Story, I’ve ceased to have expectations of friends and friendships with regard to what a relationship will be in my life. It may be for a season, it may be recurring, or it may be for Life, but that’s not really something I control. It is what it is. Trying to control it only leads to awkwardness, anxiety, and disappointment.

And, this leads to a third lesson I’ve learned, which is to accept and appreciate each type of key relationship for its role in both my life and spiritual journey. At times I have grieved that a relationship for a season was only for a season, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be grateful for that friend and that relationship that impacted me for that season.

And who knows? Perhaps today will be a day when a significant relationship flows into my life, my journey, my Story. I have no expectations, but I’m always open to how God wants to flow.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Kingdom of All Believers

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Kingdom of All Believers (CaD Acts 17) – Wayfarer

Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
Acts 17:11 (NIV)

Along my life journey, I have worshipped and served with believers of different denominations and belief systems. Growing up, I observed that people within denominations often siloed themselves as if theirs was the only one that had it right. In the city of Des Moines, where I grew up, the churches had a reputation of refusing to work together. Billy Graham only came to Des Moines once for this very reason.

When I was young, I learned a quote from St. Augustine:

“In the essentials, unity. In the non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity.”

I let this rule of thought guide me throughout my spiritual journey. I also embraced the Apostles’ Creed which says “I believe in the holy catholic Church.” So, when I was offered the opportunity to pastor a Quaker church I took it with the full acknowledgment that I didn’t fully agree with Quaker theology in some of the “non-essentials” but would respect their teaching. Looking back, I learned a lot from my Quaker brothers and sisters, and I hope they learned a few things from me. It was a great experience.

At the same time, in every denomination I experienced, I found individuals who put the “non-essentials” ahead of the “essential.” They appeared to be more loyal to their denomination than they were to Jesus. I remember one man who practically had his denomination’s Book of Church Order memorized and would quote it regularly, but I don’t think he ever opened his Bible.

In today’s chapter, Paul continues his second missionary journey in Greece. The thing that struck me as I meditated on his experiences in Thessalonica, Berea, and Athens was the diverse audiences to which Paul appealed and the diverse reactions. Paul won many converts, but many were offended that Paul was messing with their comfortable, traditional belief system. I’ve observed that individuals who have their “essentials” and “non-essentials” mixed up are those who have the most powerfully negative emotional reactions to any kind of change in their belief system.

I love the fact that Paul and his companions were taking Jesus’ Message to both the Jewish synagogues, but also the local Greek thought centers. They didn’t discriminate. They wanted everyone to hear Jesus’ Message. I love that the exploding Jesus Movement is attracting people of every stripe, culture, nation, and background. Yet, even within synagogues in different towns, they had tremendously diverse reactions from the closed-minded individuals who rioted in Thessalonica to the open-minded congregation in Berea who carefully considered the Message and searched the scriptures to see if it was true.

In the quiet this morning, I’m mindful of all my experiences in various denominations. I get why denominations exist, and I understand human feelings of loyalty and community. At the same time, the notion of denominations does not exist anywhere in the Great Story. In the end, it simply says that God’s Kingdom will be filled with people of every language, tribe, people, and nation. As Jesus taught His followers to pray “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth” I’ve always embraced the notion that I want my earthly journey to experience a little bit of heaven described in Revelation, in which I experience worship and unity with all believers not just the ones in my silo.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Praise in Chains

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About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
Acts 16:25 (NIV)

When life interrupts our lives with any kind of unexpected difficulty or tragedy, Wendy and I announce it to one another by saying, “Honey? We have a Chain Reaction of Praise moment.”

I have written about the Chain Reaction of Praise before. It’s a simple, formulaic way that reminds us that as disciples of Jesus, we are to give thanks in all circumstances. It was first introduced in our local gathering of Jesus followers and it has now been expanded into a book called Strike the Match, Light the Fire. The Chain Reaction of Praise goes like this:

Praise God in difficult times which
Activates our faith to
Pray powerful prayers and
Overcome evil that we might learn to
Live and reign with Christ.

And it all begins when we praise God in the darkest moments.

In today’s chapter, Paul and Silas find themselves in a literally dark moment. In the Roman colony of Philippi, they are unjustly beaten with rods and thrown into a jail, their feet placed in stocks. The jail was completely dark. Paul and Silas sat in the darkness unable to move, their feet in stocks. What did they do? They sang praise songs and prayed (praise activates faith to pray powerful prayers). An earthquake suddenly shook the area so violently that their stocks were broken and the prison doors all opened.

Rather than flee, Paul and Silas remained, knowing that their escape would be a death sentence for the jailer. It was a very Christ-like thing to do (e.g. learning to live and reign with Christ). As a result, the jailer and his entire household become believers in Jesus.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself thinking back to all of the “We have a chain reaction of praise” moments over the last several years. We haven’t experienced anything quite as dramatic as the Philippian earthquake, but we have learned to immediately, in that moment, stop to praise God and pray together. That alone has allowed us to see each dark moment as an opportunity for us to grow and for God to use each circumstance to shine His light in unexpected ways and/or to grow in us a deeper faith, trust, and hope in Him.

That has made a huge difference for us.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Just another wayfarer on life's journey, headed for Home. I'm carrying The Message, and I'm definitely waiting for Guffman.