Christ Church Daily Devotion Oct 19 2023

Paul and Silas encounter a slave girl possessed by a spirit who predicts the future. They cast out the spirit, angering the girl's owners who seize them and bring them before the authorities. They are beaten and thrown into prison. While in prison, they pray and sing hymns, causing an earthquake that opens the prison doors. The jailer, fearing punishment, considers suicide but realizes the prisoners are still there. Paul and Silas tell him to believe in Jesus to be saved. The jailer and his household are baptized and find joy in their newfound faith. The lesson is to share God's love and joy with others by forming relationships and sharing our story. Welcome to Christ Church's Daily Devotion for October 19th, 2023. Today we will be reading from Acts chapter 16, verses 16 through 34. 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 stalks. 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? They replied, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. Then they spoke the words of the Lord to him and to all the others in his household. At that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds, then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 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 household. The jailer had fallen asleep while a couple of prisoners, Paul and Silas, were singing hymns. When he woke up, the prison doors were wide open, and the prisoners were not in the cell. He had failed miserably. He worried that his superiors might torture him and then kill him. He began to think suicide was the only way out. Then he saw that he could be overreacting. The situation was not as bad as he had thought. He had assumed the prisoners had escaped through the open doors, but they were still there. The jailer realized that those two singing prisoners had something he didn't have. How could he be saved? Paul and Silas gave a simple answer, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household. To reach the non-believers, we need to simply come down to a very personable, vulnerable encounter with others. We best communicate Christ's life and his passion for us by forming relationships and sharing our story. We are to share God's love. When people take Jesus into their lives, they are filled with joy, which they then pass on to others. Today's personal worship option, Lord, help us to exhibit our joy in you to others. Let us not forget that you are always with us to guide us through the easy and tough times. Give us the desire to share your story with others. Amen.