PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Acts 16:16–30
Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.
When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”
The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
CONSIDER THIS
What seems to be a fairly localized (i.e., targeted) violent earthquake that simultaneously opens all the doors of this maximum security prison, unleashing everyone from their chains, is pretty impressive. However, there is something far more impressive going on here.
Did you catch it?
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
We need to get off the bus here and tour the site. Two prisoners, locked in the inner cell, beaten bloody within an inch of their lives with their feet fastened securely between two pieces of wood . . .
And they are praying and singing hymns to God?!
I would have probably been over in the corner scratching out my U.S.C. section 1983 lawsuit and thinking thoughts like, So I do all this for you, Jesus, and this is what it gets me?! And I’d be wondering if I could get my old job back. (I’ll comment in the podcast afterword today about how much I have struggled to develop this kind of faith.)
What we most need today, particularly in the North American church, is a New Testament reality check; a Christian worldview. Here’s a good word on that from our sponsor: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
We must realize that Paul did not write the following words to be printed on our 3A State Championship bumper stickers.
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. (Phil. 4:12–3)
He wrote those words from yet another prison.
These men crossed the Rubicon of terminal difficulties a long time ago. They found something—or, in this case, someone—worth dying for and consequently something and someone to live for. Scratch that last word. It should be “through.” Huge difference. Someone to live “through.”
Jesus was their secret and they weren’t keeping it a secret. The gospel just does that.
I want you to feel encouraged while at the same time challenged. I want us to reorient our worldview. We must let go of our quest for problem-free prosperity. No—we won’t go looking for persecution and pain. But we will face our present problems through Jesus. This will set our feet on the path to real life, deep faith, and holy love becoming healing power.
Somewhere along the way, when we find ourselves in an impossible situation, instead of whining out our Why me? we will instead think to ourselves, Now what were the words to that Chris Tomlin song?
And those other prisoners—those whose chains have fallen off and yet they still haven’t found freedom—they will be listening.
THE PRAYER
Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly dove,
with all Thy quickening powers.
Come shed abroad a Savior’s love,
and that will kindle ours.
—Isaac Watts, “Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove”
JOURNAL PROMPTS
Are you free? In other words, have you learned to sing songs to God at midnight when life is at its worst? Ready to try it? Do you find yourself (like me) regularly surprised by tribulations and troubles? How might we learn to expect troubles (without being pessimistic) and yet to confront them in the victory of Jesus?
THE HYMN
Today we will sing “Be Still, My Soul” (hymn 346) from our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise. Get your copy here. New shipments arriving now. Use Code: WAKEUPCALL for free shipping through the end of May (does not apply to bulk orders).
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
Sower-in-Chief
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5 Responses
I woke up this morning with this poem that describes the woman in Acts 16:16 developing within me. When I looked at the clock it was 3:33. There are a lot more people like her than we realize.
Some people act like
They have it made
In God’s shade
When they’re really
Hiding afraid
In dark shadows
Of demonic
Deception.
I’m going back to bed now.
I couldn’t go back to sleep. Another poem formed in me that explains what the woman was doing.
The devil’s drift
Moves in to shift
People away
From the fresh wind
Of God’s Spirit
And put their focus
On human leaders
So he can sift
Them like wheat
And keep them
In defeat.
I still haven’t read today’s WUC. I think I’ll read it now.
Let’s Reorient Our Worldview
The demon in the woman constantly directed people’s attention to Paul and Silas by loudly promoting them as important leaders and men of God. She kept the fake praise going for many days. Paul eventually rejected it and drove the demon out of the slave woman.
There was such a change in her countenance that her owners knew that she could no longer predict the future through sorcery. They panicked, attacked Paul and Silas, and dragged them to the authorities who had them stripped, severely beaten with rods, thrown into the darkest part of prison, and carefully guarded. Their feet were put in chains.
So, what did those suffering and humiliated leaders do? They prayed out loud, put the focus on God, and sang praises to Him. While they were in such brokenness that they could no longer take any credit, God suddenly showed up and showed out. He shook the place, setting all the prisoners free.
Faced with a sovereign move of God, the jailer wanted to kill himself, but Paul and Silas and the other prisoners hadn’t used their freedom to run away and find personal comfort. Paul shouted to him: “Don’t harm yourself! We’re all here!”
Then the jailer trembled and called for lights. He wanted out of his darkness. Why would his prisoners not run away? Then he saw on their faces that the presence of the living God had overcome their fear and suffering. He fell trembling before Paul and Silas and asked with great awe and respect, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved.” They answered: “Believe on (rely on and depend on) the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved — you and your household.”
Paul and Silas begin to passionately tell the jailer, and everyone gathered around, about the living, resurrected Jesus. Then their enemy, the jailer, began to wash their wounds. The scene gripped the heart of the jailer’s family and his prisoners, and they wanted to be baptized to demonstrate their surrender and obedience to the risen Jesus.
Then the jailer took them into his home for a joyful meal. When we get our eyes off of human leaders and constantly fixed on the living Jesus, amazing things will happen! Let’s “reorient our world view.” Let’s quit talking about Christian leaders and exalt no other name but Jesus!
I’m amazed that my last reply was posted at 5:55.
In answer to: “How might we learn to expect troubles (without being pessimistic) and yet to confront them in the victory of Jesus?” These words from an old Lutheran hymn sum it well: 4. “What God ordains is always good. He is my friend and Father; He suffers naught to do me harm,
Though many storms may gather. Now I may know both joy and woe, Some day I shall see clearly. That He hath loved me dearly.”