Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Christ- The Way, Truth and Life
Acts.16:19-34
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved- you and your   household”(v.31)
 This passage is talking about the circumstances when Paul and Silas, two peaceful men, were seized for healing a demon stricken girl. Paul and Silas were seized, dragged, stripped off their clothes, placed in iron stacks, flogged and thrown into prison. The owners of the slave girl did this only to find that they could not make money out of the slave girl’s fortune telling abilities, which came from the demons. Paul and Silas were brought to the Roman authorities, accused of being anti national and a threat to Romans. The owners of the girl were actually raged by the real reason of not being able to make money out of the girl and accused Paul and Silas of introducing a new God, which was against Roman law. Paul and Silas were placed in iron stacks and thrown into the inner jail cells. They were treated like dangerous criminals. Paul and Silas could have easily resisted them, asked for God’s divine intervention, and escaped this torture. However, they understood that God had different plans for them.
Most of us ask God to save us from difficult situations and want an easy way out of problems. Here we can see that even in the midst of these adversities, Paul and Silas were praising God by praying and singing, and being a role model for other prisoners and the jailer. God intervened in the situation through an earthquake shaking the foundation of the prison and opening all the doors. Paul and Silas along with the other prisoners could have easily escaped when this happened. However, God wanted them to be the avenue for the transformation of the jailer and his family. We do not usually give God the chance to intervene due to our lack of faith in God. By seeing the faith of Paul and Silas, the jailer was transformed and wanted to be saved. Paul and Silas asked the jailer to believe in Jesus Christ to be saved. Here, we can see that the actions of Paul and Silas spoke more than their words for the jailer and his family to believe in Jesus Christ.

Prayer: Lord God, help us to emulate Paul and Silas when we are faced with difficult situations in life and praise you. Help us Lord to be role models for people around us. Use us Lord to be your weapons to bring others to you and show that Christ is the way, truth and life. Amen.
Thought for the day: We need to examine ourselves and see if we can praise God like Paul and Silas did, when we are faced with difficult circumstances in life.

Dr. Lizy Mathew , St. Peter’s MTC, Teaneck, NJ

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