Today’s devotion is from Acts 4:13
Now when they saw their boldness they realized that they had been with Jesus.
There is an amazing true story in the book of Acts that illustrates the incredible boldness of Paul and Silas…
Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off!
The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself. But Paul shouted to him, “Stop! Don’t kill yourself! We are all here!” The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.
Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? ”They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.” And they shared the word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household. Even at that hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds. Then he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized. He brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God.
The next morning the city officials sent the police to tell the jailer, “Let those men go!” So the jailer told Paul, “The city officials have said you and Silas are free to leave. Go in peace.” But Paul replied, “They have publicly beaten us without a trial and put us in prison—and we are Roman citizens. So now they want us to leave secretly? Certainly not! Let them come themselves to release us!” When the police reported this, the city officials were alarmed to learn that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. So they came to the jail and apologized to them. Then they brought them out and begged them to leave the city. (Acts 16:25-39 - NLT)
Friends, this story shows the boldness and the fearlessness of Paul. Pastor Tony Finley from Faith Family Church in Omaha Nebraska shared a word the Lord gave him recently – “Don’t be intimidated by the threats of the enemy” - here in this passage, we see that even through Paul and Silas were thrown in jail - they started to praise and worship and pray - Faith and boldness prevailed in their lives. They didn’t allow themselves to become intimidated by what was happening to them. They had faith in the Lord and they knew how much the Lord loved them and they knew God was their deliverer.
What struck me in this passage was that after leading the keeper of the jail to Christ, and after hearing the following day that the city officials gave the keeper of the jail permission to let them go secretly. After that happened, I love seeing Paul and Silas’ boldness and their ability to not be intimidated by anyone. Instead of them just leaving the city secretly, they boldly told the jailer to request them being released publicly, reminding them that they were Roman Citizens and that they had been wronged. Because of their boldness, they received a public apology. Friends and family, we need to remind ourselves and our enemy ‘who are belong to and who we are in Christ’. Remember the Word says ‘Greater is He that is in us, than He that is in the World’. Selah.
