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Pastor Lud Golz
Pastor Lud Golz

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  Home | Transcript Archive | June | June 14, 2010

Monday, June 14, 2010

As we concluded our last visit we were looking at the account in Acts 16 of Paul and Silas in the Philippian prison. After promptly responding to God’s call to proclaim the good news in Philippi they were flogged and thrown into prison.  

About midnight they began praying and singing hymns to God. They were doing what Paul says we should do in 1st Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 
 
It is easy for us to accept that it is God’s will to preach the Gospel in a given city. It’s harder to accept that it was God’s will for them to be ill treated after faithfully responding to His call. If God allows something to come your way, no matter how tough it might be to endure, it has to be seen as His will. He could have kept it from happening. So He must have had a purpose in mind to let it happen. Since that’s true it would be right for us to give Him thanks for the experience. 
 
If it is hard to understand or accept we should pray about it. Life is complex enough that if we prayed about all the things we encounter we would be praying continually. Not because we had to, but because it would seem natural to ask God why? What is His purpose? 
 
If we still have a hard time giving thanks for what we’re going through, then we should ask God for grace and help to endure and make the most of the experience. I’m sure that is what Paul and Silas did in the prison that dark, dreary night. And as they did, God reminded them of an appropriate hymn to sing. 
 

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