In the text God used Paul and Silas to interfere with the enemy\u2019s program.\u00a0 They were on their way to the temple but this day they stopped to minister to a woman who was being expoited for money.\u00a0 We as Christians are called to interrupt the enemy\u2019s routine and to be careful that we are never too busy doing our thing that we forget that God has positioned us to stand in the gap for our brothers and sisters.<\/p>\n
Even though Paul and Silas were on a mission to preach and teach the Gospel,\u00a0 they were not \u2018too busy\u2019 to stop and minister to this young woman who was being exploited by others.\u00a0 When will we get to the place where we will be willing to interrupt our routine, in order to interfere with the enemy\u2019s program?\u00a0 It is time to move beyond the routine and reach out to our brothers and sisters right where they are.\u00a0 In fact is past time to do this!\u00a0\u00a0 Paul rebuked the enemy and cast out the spirit of divination that was being used to exploit and abuse her.\u00a0 We too must live our lives in such a manner that when we too can have power with God!<\/p>\n
You cannot and will not have any real power if you don\u2019t live out your faith in the crucible of trials and tribulations.\u00a0\u00a0You learn how to to get victory by getting victory.\u00a0\u00a0 To get the victory, you have to stay in the battle!\u00a0 Staying faithful during all failures and remaining trustworthy during all triumphs will give you the power to do all that God has called you to do.\u00a0\u00a0 We have to walk in the authority that Christ has given us as believers.\u00a0 That authority comes not from naming and claiming, but from remaining and sustaining.\u00a0\u00a0 Remaining faithful and sustaining our commitment to God in the face of all opposition.\u00a0 The church has been sidetracked by being overly concderned about health, wealth, and prosperity of the believer. We need to be concerened with the spiritual health, spiritual wealth and spiritual prosperity of the unbeliever.\u00a0 In a day when people are sick with sin, and poor in spiritual understanding,\u00a0 and destitute in knowing the ways of the Lord,\u00a0 we need to be very concerned about that! What good is physical healh when our spiritual health is giving us a death sentence?\u00a0\u00a0 What good is physical wealth, when the over emphasis on this causes us to lose our perspective on the importance on having wealth in heaven.\u00a0 Where your treasure is, there shall your heart be also!<\/p>\n
What good is earthly prosperity when the focus on it will only serve to doom and damm\u00a0 our eternal posterity.\u00a0\u00a0 You want real power with God?\u00a0\u00a0 Learn to trust,\u00a0 and obey, there is no other way.\u00a0Paul and Silas were not concerned about themselves their concern was for the woman and her eternal soul.\u00a0\u00a0 You have to admire the clarity of their thinking.\u00a0 Paul and Silas\u2019s did not allow the enemy to co-opt their testimony.\u00a0\u00a0 They rebuked the enemy and took authority over him.\u00a0 We too must not allow the devil to co-opt our walk and our testimony.\u00a0 \u00a0We have seen only too recently the absolute devastation that ensues when you allow your testimony to be co-opted by the world.\u00a0 When the enemy tries to co-opt your testimony and interfere with the work that the Lord has called you to do, our response should not be some luke-warmed over \u2018I\u2019 ain\u2019t perfect\u2019<\/strong> excuse.\u00a0 We should be ashamed and grieved when we find ourselves in this situation.\u00a0\u00a0 The Bible says Paul was grieved in his spirit not for himself but for what he saw the enemy doing to this young woman.\u00a0\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t rebuke the woman, he rebukes the spirit that is using the woman to bring a cloud over the work that God has called them to do.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This takes real courage.\u00a0\u00a0 It takes courage to make a stand against wrong and to speak out against those who seek to profit from their wrong.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It takes being sold out to God to such an extent where you do not fear what men can do to you.\u00a0\u00a0 Your reverence for God should cause you to stand up, speakup and speak out against any attempt to cloud and co-opt what God is doing.<\/p>\n We are tempted to think that when we have done the right thing, that this is all we have to do.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Once you have done the right thing in a world of wrong things, it is never that simple.\u00a0\u00a0 After Paul and Silas do the right thing (what God has called them to do) , they are falsely accused, mistreated, misaligned, beaten and incarcerated.\u00a0 The enemy will try and make you think that he has all this power so that you will be afraid to do what God has commanded!\u00a0 Paul and Silas did not let\u00a0fear<\/strong>\u00a0fool<\/strong>\u00a0them!\u00a0\u00a0 They did not let adversity\u00a0advert<\/strong>\u00a0them from their God ordained purpose!\u00a0 Don\u2019t let\u00a0fear<\/strong>\u00a0fool<\/strong>\u00a0you!\u00a0\u00a0 Don\u2019t let\u00a0adversity<\/strong>\u00a0advert<\/strong>\u00a0you from God\u2019s ordained purpose for your life!<\/p>\n I would like to focus on the the jailer for a moment.\u00a0 When Paul and Silas are brought to prison the jailer is commanded to take control of them.\u00a0 When the jailer saw what had happened to Paul and Silas, his concerned was not for them but for himself!<\/p>\n He was charged with keeping them under lock and key!\u00a0 He saw how savagely they were treated!\u00a0 It would not go well for him if these two men got away from him!\u00a0 Given this fact, he preceded to put them into solitary confinement.\u00a0 They were put as we say “under the jail\u201d They were put in the jail of the jail!\u00a0 When you commit crimes in prison this where you are put!\u00a0 Paul and Silas had committed no crime at all!\u00a0 But they were treated like they were a serious threat to society!\u00a0 Out of fear the jailer reacted harshly towards Paul and Silas!\u00a0 He not only put them in solitary, but he put their feet in stocks!\u00a0 Not socks!\u00a0 Stocks!\u00a0 Clamps made of metal or wood!\u00a0 This was done to restrict a prisoner\u2019s range of motion!\u00a0 I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall that night in jail!\u00a0 I can see in my mind the enemy talking to Paul and Silas!\u00a0 “Well a lot of good your faith is doing you in here!”\u00a0 “See if you had just kept your mouth shut and went on to prayer meeting, you wouldn’t be here now!” “Silas, where does Paul get off running his mouth and getting you in trouble too!”\u00a0 “If God really was with you, do you really think He would have let them beat you like that!”\u00a0 Oh, I know he must have had a field day with them!<\/p>\n But precious hearts, because Paul and Silas trusted God!\u00a0 Because they knew in whom they believed, they were\u00a0unmoved<\/strong>\u00a0by troubling thoughts!\u00a0 They were\u00a0unshaken<\/strong>\u00a0by their current circumstances!\u00a0 They were\u00a0unaffected<\/strong>\u00a0by their present problems!\u00a0 They were\u00a0undeterred<\/strong>\u00a0from their primary purpose which\u00a0was to make the Gospel known to all men!\u00a0 Contrast Paul and Silas with the jailer.\u00a0\u00a0 They were fearless and he was fearful.\u00a0\u00a0 You see my brothers and sisters\u00a0God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of a sound mind!\u00a0\u00a0 When others are fearful and shaken by the events that unfold around them we the people of God should be able to stand,\u00a0 steadfast, unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord!<\/p>\n The text says that at midnight, Paul and Silas, prayed and sang praises unto God:\u00a0 And the prisoners heard!\u00a0 How many of you realize that in order to be able to pray and sing praises at midnight,\u00a0 you have to be able to pray and sing praises at Noon day.\u00a0\u00a0 The Bible says in Jeremiah 12:5,\u00a0 \u201c\u201cIf you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, Then how can you contend with horses?\u201d\u00a0 In other words, if you can\u2019t hang in there when the going is easy,\u00a0 what chance do you have of hanging in there when the going is tough?\u00a0\u00a0 Lord, help me to run with horses!\u00a0\u00a0 Lord help me to continue to stand even in the swelling of the Jordan!\u00a0\u00a0 Lord give me the ability to pray and to prase you even at midnight!<\/p>\n Somebody today is locked in, and locked down today.\u00a0\u00a0 You don\u2019t see anyway out and it doesn\u2019t look like you will be able to survive the condition you find yourself in right now!\u00a0\u00a0 I want to let you know,\u00a0 don\u2019t give up and don\u2019t give in!\u00a0\u00a0 Just begin to pray and give God praise!\u00a0\u00a0 Midnight is a good time to pray!\u00a0\u00a0 At midnight is a good time to give praise!\u00a0\u00a0 I don’t know what Paul and Silas sang!\u00a0 Maybe they sang, I will trust in the Lord at all times, and His praise shall continually be in my mouth!\u00a0 Maybe they sang, I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress… In Him will I trust.\u00a0 I don’t know what they sang!\u00a0 But whatever they sang, and whatever they prayed, \u00a0and they praised! Can you see God working?\u00a0 In the midst of your\u00a0 desperate condition!\u00a0 Can you see God working!\u00a0 In spite of the \u00a0determination of the enemy to exploitate our every weakness and every short coming, can you see God working?\u00a0 There may be racial bigotry and hatred blinding the minds of men!\u00a0 But I can still see God working!\u00a0 It was Prayer<\/strong> and Praise <\/strong>that saved the day!\u00a0\u00a0 The same thing that it took for them to get free, it will take for us to get free!\u00a0 Prayer and Praise will save the day!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That is what prayer and praise will do!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Bible says that men should ALWAYS pray, lifting up holy hand without wrath and doubting!\u00a0\u00a0 The lifting up the hands\u00a0 holy hands is the worship and praise that comes from having talked to God and trusting Him with our lives!<\/p>\n When they got through giving God the Glory, and when they got through giving God some praise, the Bible says that there suddenly was a great earthquake, and the foundations of the prisons were shaken.\u00a0 Immediately all of the doors were opened, and every one\u2019s bands were loosed.\u00a0 Saints of God!\u00a0 Let’s stop crying about our circumstances and pouting about our problems!\u00a0 For if we give God the glory He will shake the foundations of prisons!\u00a0 The prisons of fear will fall!\u00a0 The prisons of hatred and injustice will fall!\u00a0 Every door will be opened!\u00a0 “There is power in the name of Jesus, to break every chain, break every chain!” God will make a way for all men to escape the evil of this world!\u00a0 He is the open door through which all must enter!\u00a0 When we stand for God in an ungodly world, He will loose every one’s bands that receive our testimony!\u00a0 When the world sees us unmoved by our trouble, and unshaken by our circumstances, it will lead them to the question all must ask?\u00a0 What must I do to be saved?\u00a0 What must I do to be able to have faith like that?\u00a0 \u00a0What must I do to be able to rejoice like this?\u00a0\u00a0 When we stand steadfast unaffected by our problems and undeterred from our mission God can use us for His Glory!<\/p>\n I am speaking to someone here today!\u00a0 It is midnight and God is talking to you!\u00a0 If you want to be free from oppression, and invulnerable to exploitation!\u00a0 You need to let God have His way in your life!\u00a0\u00a0 God wants to save you!\u00a0 Saved from hate!\u00a0 Saved to Love!\u00a0 Saved from bigotry, and saved to seeing all men as brothers!\u00a0 God wants to save you!\u00a0 That\u2019s what prayer and praise will do!\u00a0\u00a0 God wants to save you!\u00a0 Saved from fear to faith!\u00a0 Come and let God give you courage!\u00a0 If you need a heart!\u00a0 Or you need a brain!\u00a0 Or you need to find your way home!\u00a0 The answer is not in OZ, but it is in God!\u00a0 That’s what prayer and praise will do!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the text God used Paul and Silas to interfere with the enemy\u2019s program.\u00a0 They were on their way to the temple but this day they stopped to minister to a woman who was being expoited for money.\u00a0 We as … Continue reading