Daily Bread 12-2-16

Acts 16:19,20

19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,

20 And brought them to magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city.

ref. - Ph 3:19 - Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.

2 Cor 6:5 - In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings;

Matt 10:18 - And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.

Acts 17:6 - And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.

Paul and Silas had made a terrible mess for the masters of this woman. She had made them a lot of money with her soothsaying. Basically deceiving them. She was possessed with a Spirit of divination, fortune telling, and her masters were profiting from it. When Paul cast the Spirit from her she lost her "talent". The men who were profiting from it were angry as they saw their income go away so they set out to destroy Paul and Silas. As the story goes, you can't keep a good man down. They cast them into prison, Paul and Silas started singing and praising God, an earthquake came, and Paul and Silas walked out unharmed. What we need to take of this today is that there are many people today trying to capitalize on the things of God with other things that are not of God and turning it into something profitable for them. In the Church and out of the Church. As long as no one that is called and chosen by God shows up, there game is safe. But then someone comes around and ruins their deceit by the word of God and true power in Jesus' name, then their lack of true Spiritual power is manifest and overthrown. You see, there is no other Spirit that is more powerful than the Holy Spirit of God and no matter how hard other Spirits try, they still believe and tremble at the appearance of the Holy Spirit. So what we need to do as true Christians is to seek for the things that come from God. Use them the way that he leads us to use them, and overthrow those who are deceiving people away from Christ. We may seem outnumbered, we may seem in trouble, we may feel like we are in prison. But keep praising God and singing praises unto his name. The true followers of God will be shown and the false ones will be defeated!! Eventually all that we think has us bound will fall off and we will walk away unharmed!! God will never put us in a place that he will not give us a way to escape. No matter what the obstacle, no matter what the threat, keep praising God and sing those praises!! We are not here to keep the world moving in the way it is going, we are here to turn the world of the deceitful and unholy upside down!!! When God leads you to it, you will get through it, so if we call on him daily for guidance and protection, courage and determination, we will walk out with our heads held high and our hands in the air singing, "Glory to God in the Highest!!!" Have a great day!!!