SCRIPTURE: Acts (NIV) 16:33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptised. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.
OBSERVATION: The jailer had been ordered to “carefully guard” Paul and Silas who had just been “stripped and beaten.” He placed them in an inner cell and fastened their feet in stocks. Their circumstances were not conducive to sleeping, so at midnight they were “praying and singing hymns to God.” The prisoners all heard, but they could do nothing about it. But the prisoners were not the only ones who heard—heaven heard! And a violent earthquake shook everyone’s chains loose! The jailer, thinking everyone had escaped, was going to kill himself, when Paul stopped him, telling him everyone was present.
Immediately there was a change in the jailer. He had put them in prison, now he invited them into his house. He had put them in stocks, now he washed the wounds from the beating. Now, he set a meal before them! Now he, and his house, were filled with joy!
APPLICATION: Surely, Paul and Silas must have shared a part of the jailer’s joy. But I must not miss the fact that the joy in the jailer’s heart, was preceded by the expressions of joy in Paul and Silas while still in stocks in prison. The jailer’s new joy caused all of heaven to rejoice. But the joy of Paul and Silas caused heaven to shake earth!
No wonder Paul wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord! …and again I say, Rejoice.” Philippians 3:1 and 4:4
PRAYER: Lord, may my rejoicing as I experience the troubles of this life, shake the earth around me. May my words of praise be a sign to the devil that I belong to the Lord! May my conversations with others contain the declaration that my God is trustworthy and all powerful. May my faith effect all areas of my life. Amen
Pastor Leon
Making friends for time and eternity!
On Facebook: Today’s SOAP from Pastor Leon
SOAPs by Pastor Leon 