Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119)
Acts 16, 22-34 Paul and Silas were initially welcomed in Philippi, but things quickly became ugly when the crowds turned of them. They were attacked, stripped, beaten, flogged, ‘thrown’ into prison and shackled in the innermost cell of a crude prison. Even a fraction of this maltreatment could lead any ‘healthy’ Christian to sink into despair. But what did Paul and Silas do? They prayed and sang hymns to God in the dank darkness of the jail, igniting the fire of the Holy Spirit in the midst of all the prisoners there, allowing each one to warm their hands and hearts in hope. Perhaps it was the movement of the Holy Spirit in the darkness of the prison caused the earthquake! Whatever the cause, the effect of the earthquake, that unfastened chains and opened doors in the prison that night, led directly to the wounds of the Apostles being dressed, and the conversion and baptism of the jailer and his entire family before morning. When I am facing challenges or persecution will I, like Paul and Silas, have the ‘guts’ to pray, and sing hymns to God? Holy Spirit of God help me have the courage and presence of mind and heart to pray and sing hymns to God when I am facing overwhelming circumstances. Let the high praises of God be in their throats. This is glory for all his faithful ones. (Psalm 149) Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man [or woman] the only true life. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca & Gospel Mystery of the Day on Facebook Soli ad gloriam Dei
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AuthorBeverly Illauq lives in Kemptville, Ontario, where she greets each morning by seeking the Gospel Mystery of the Day - the Word of the Lord for direct and practical application to the specific challenges & joys of the day. Archives
March 2024
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