|
Paul and Silas are in prison, but they are not thinking of making a break for it.
What is your uncomfortable situation? What has happened in your life that makes you want to stop sharing with others so you can get your life more in order? Maybe God has you in this situation so that someone (you may not yet know who) will be there asking: “What must I do to be saved?” God did not prevent Paul and Silas from being severely beaten, stripped (humiliated) and having their feet put in stocks and thrown in a jail cell. But they refused to whine. They refused to worry. They praised God so loud that all the other prisoners were listening. Who knows, someone might be listening to you praise God and that is a witness. When Christians whine about our situation, what kind of witness is that? “If their God can’t even get them to stop whining, what good is he?” Share your need: Yes. Ask for prayer: Yes;
But for God’s sake, stop your whining, and begin praising.
Sing songs to the Lord for all his goodness, taking your cue from the psalms: “I will praise the Lord with my entire self.”
When we are open to the movement of the Holy Spirit of God, we are not discouraged by threatening circumstances or people; we are encouraged to praise God all the more. When we are praising God instead of whining, then we are in a place where God can use us to spread the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ.
2 Cor. 11
24Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; 27in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. 28And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches. 29Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant?
Page 5 |
