I'll Still Bless Him!

In Acts 16 beginning in verse 16, you can read the story of a servant girl who had a spirit of divination and went about predicting the future. She was so good at it, the bible says that her masters profited greatly from her.

Acts 16:17-26 NIV reads...

She started to follow Paul and day after day, would yell out “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 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 stocks. 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.

Paul and Silas ended up in prison because Paul addressed and called out a spirit that was no longer able to operate once it was identified. In turn, charges were brought against Paul and Silas in order to stop them from doing what God had mandated them to do.

The crowd joined in. Paul and Silas were stripped and beaten with rods....humiliated in public.

Before the trial started, before they were stripped, before one person picked up a rod to beat them, Paul and Silas could have denounced evey teaching, encounter, and mandate given to them.

They could have walked away unscathed.

They didn't walk away.

They knew and trusted God to the point that even when thrown in prison, shackled and guarded, they worshipped! They worshipped!

And God showed up!

Be encouraged dear ones! God is not a man that he should lie! He fights our battles always, and he knows the plans he has for you!

You may be going through a season in your life where you wonder if God hears you, sees your tears, or cares at all. I am here to tell you he does!

When you feel like you are in the darkest cave, STILL BLESS HIM!

When you feel like you can no longer make it, STILL BLESS HIM!

When things don't turn out the way you would like, STILL BLESS HIM!

WHEN ALL HOPE SEEMS LOST, STILL BLESS HIM!

Paul and Silas saw the hand of God in their situation and because of their response, the jailer and his household was added to the kingdom of God!

We may not know or understand why things happen the way they do in our lives but if we still bless him through those seasons, he will surely show us HIS glory!

Blessings,

Rashena