Regardless of what is going on in your life, you should always praise the Lord God for His goodness. Ambassadors Paul and Silas experienced many times of crisis and yet they kept praising the Lord God regardless of their situation. Many days Paul and Silas had been followed by a slave girl who had a spirit that enabled her to tell fortunes. Day after day, She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. 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. This led to Paul and Silas' imprisonment. 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. Please realize, they didn't complain but they sang songs and praises to the Lord God Almighty, to the point that the Lord Jesus heard them from heaven's throne. 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. If we suffer with Him, we shall also live with Him. Praising the Lord God should be second nature to you. Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with Him, we will also live with Him;
Praising the Lord God in times of crisis should be no different than praising Him in the best of times. There is still so much to be thankful for! Praise Him for who He is! He is the Creator of us all! My question to you is this, what would you have done if you were Paul and Silas' situation? Would you have started praising the King or pleading your innocence? King David stated: I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High. NKJV ... But I have trusted in Your mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me. NKJV...I will bless the Lord who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me. I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for He is right beside me. Keep this in mind, when Job the servant of the Lord God was going through his test of faithfulness to the King. Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!”
In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God.
Even though it was truly stated: "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.", it was not a statement of truth. The evil one took those things away from Job, at the permission of the Lord God. One day the members of the heavenly court came to present themselves before the Lord, and the Accuser, Satan, came with them. “Where have you come from?” the Lord asked Satan.
Satan answered the Lord, “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on.”
Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.”
Satan replied to the Lord, “Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God. You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is! But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!”
“All right, you may test him,” the Lord said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.” So Satan left the Lord’s presence. With all Job went through, he praised and worshiped the Lord God. By the way, the Lord God blessed Job again with more than twice he had at the beginning. So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning. For now he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 teams of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. He also gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters. He named his first daughter Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. In all the land no women were as lovely as the daughters of Job. And their father put them into his will along with their brothers.
My finals thought:
Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
Remember, your faith in His Word is your greatest asset in His Kingdom.
Acts 16:17-18, 20-24, 25-26 2 Timothy 2:11 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Psalm 7:17; 13:6-7; 16:7-8 Job 1:20-22; 1:6-12 Job 42:12-15
All NLT except where noted
~~W.R. Luchie
www.kingdomcitizens.org
This article may only be reproduced, in print or on the internet, if the author's name and website address are included at the end of the article as originally placed. Thank you
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. This led to Paul and Silas' imprisonment. 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. Please realize, they didn't complain but they sang songs and praises to the Lord God Almighty, to the point that the Lord Jesus heard them from heaven's throne. 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. If we suffer with Him, we shall also live with Him. Praising the Lord God should be second nature to you. Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with Him, we will also live with Him;
Praising the Lord God in times of crisis should be no different than praising Him in the best of times. There is still so much to be thankful for! Praise Him for who He is! He is the Creator of us all! My question to you is this, what would you have done if you were Paul and Silas' situation? Would you have started praising the King or pleading your innocence? King David stated: I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High. NKJV ... But I have trusted in Your mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me. NKJV...I will bless the Lord who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me. I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for He is right beside me. Keep this in mind, when Job the servant of the Lord God was going through his test of faithfulness to the King. Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!”
In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God.
Even though it was truly stated: "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.", it was not a statement of truth. The evil one took those things away from Job, at the permission of the Lord God. One day the members of the heavenly court came to present themselves before the Lord, and the Accuser, Satan, came with them. “Where have you come from?” the Lord asked Satan.
Satan answered the Lord, “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on.”
Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.”
Satan replied to the Lord, “Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God. You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is! But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!”
“All right, you may test him,” the Lord said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.” So Satan left the Lord’s presence. With all Job went through, he praised and worshiped the Lord God. By the way, the Lord God blessed Job again with more than twice he had at the beginning. So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning. For now he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 teams of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. He also gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters. He named his first daughter Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. In all the land no women were as lovely as the daughters of Job. And their father put them into his will along with their brothers.
My finals thought:
Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
Remember, your faith in His Word is your greatest asset in His Kingdom.
Acts 16:17-18, 20-24, 25-26 2 Timothy 2:11 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Psalm 7:17; 13:6-7; 16:7-8 Job 1:20-22; 1:6-12 Job 42:12-15
All NLT except where noted
~~W.R. Luchie
www.kingdomcitizens.org
This article may only be reproduced, in print or on the internet, if the author's name and website address are included at the end of the article as originally placed. Thank you
