Impromptu Praise

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Our reading, titled Impromptu Praise, was written by Nancy Gavilanis. During a short-term missions trip to Ethiopia, our team accompanied another team from a local ministry on an outreach to a group of young men who had hit hard times and were living in shacks in a literal junkyard. They were such a delight to meet. We shared testimonies, encouraging words and prayers together. One of my favorite moments that evening was when a local team member played his guitar and we got to worship with our new friends under the radiant moon.

What a sacred moment. Despite their desperate situation, these men had hope and joy that can only be found in Jesus. In Acts 16, we read about another impromptu praise time. This one broke out in a jail in the city of Philippi. Paul and Silas had been arrested, beaten, flogged and imprisoned while serving Jesus. Instead of giving in to despair, they worshiped God by praying and singing in their jail cell. 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. The jailer's first thought was to end his life, but when he realized the prisoners hadn't escaped, he was in awe of God and salvation came to his family. God delights in hearing us praise him.

Let's worship him during both the highs and lows of life. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Acts chapter 16 verses 16 through 26. Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune telling. 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. 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. 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. Let's pray. Dear God, no matter how difficult our situation, please help us to praise you. Knowing that you are faithful and will meet our every need. Thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening today. My name is Brenna Holsclaw and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.