FILLED WITH JOY
ACTS 16: Paul visited Lystra and met a young disciple named Timothy whose mother was a Jewess and a believer and his father was a Greek. Paul wanted t take him with him on his journey but realized he had to circumcise him to be acceptable to the Jews who lived in the area. They traveled from town to town delivering the Good News of salvation and the numbers of people being converted increased.
Paul had a vision one night of a man from Macedonia who was telling Paul to come to his town to preach the Word. They stayed there awhile and then continued to travel winding up in Phillipi where they stayed for a few days. On the Sabbath they went outside the city to a place they expected to find people gathered to pray. It was there Paul met Lydia, a business woman who listened to his message of salvation and she accepted the Lord as Savior for her sins. She asked Paul to stay at her house. Her whole family believed and was baptized.
One day on their way to the place of prayer, they came across a demon possessed girl who had the ability to predict the future. She began to follow Paul wherever he went, antagonizing him by declaring that his message was from the Most High God. Finally Paul looked directly at her and commanded ‘that the spirit in her come out,’ verse18. It did and from that day forward she could no longer predict the future. Upon discovering they were out of business her owners took Paul and Silas to the marketplace to face the authorities, where they complained to the magistrates that they were causing an upheaval in the city. The crowd joined in the attack and the authorities ordered them to be whipped and placed in jail, ordering the jailer to make sure they couldn’t escape. In fear the jailer placed them in the center of the prison and placed their feet in stocks to be on the safe side. However the forces of God went to work in the night and ‘caused a tremor that shook the prison and caused the chains to fall from all the prisoners,’ verse26; including the opening of the doors. When the jailer realized what happened he was going to kill himself, assuming all the prisoners had escaped. Paul cried out to him telling him that all was well and everybody was accounted for. The jailer rushed to Paul and was so grateful that he asked Paul what he must do to be saved. Paul told him to believe and he and his whole household would be saved. He did and then took Paul to his house, fed them and cleaned their wounds. The jailer was filled with joy over the saving of himself and his family and they were all baptized to proclaim their acceptance of Jesus as Savior.
At daylight the magistrates ordered the release of Paul and Silas, But Paul insisted they come to the jail to release them, because they had no right to beat and jail Roman citizens. Obviously Paul was a Roman citizen. The magistrates were alarmed at this news and did what Paul requested. Later, they went to the house of Lydia where they met with the brothers to encourage them and hen they left.
Filled with joy is what God wants for us and the easiest way to be in that state is to know what He did for us, who we are, where we are, and where we will be for the rest of our eternity. Remember, believers are in the eternity now and forever. It is your decision to accept Jesus or reject Him by doing nothing.
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