Saturday after Cantate Sunday
Posted on May 13, 2023 by under
Scripture: Acts 16:25-36 (NKJV)
16:25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. 27 And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. 28 But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.”
29 Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34 Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.
35 And when it was day, the magistrates sent the officers, saying, “Let those men go.”
36 So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Now therefore depart, and go in peace.”
Devotion
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved!” This is the only message that can quiet the terrified conscience. By nature all we know of God is His eternal power and godhead. To only know God as the almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth does nothing but terrify the sinner. St. Paul writes to the Romans that “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” (Rom. 1:18). The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is not known to us by nature. It must be revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, through His Word.
In prison, the Apostles testified of this Gospel in their prayers and by singing hymns. When the jailer, terrified by the power of God, cried out “What must I do to be saved?” the Apostles proclaimed to him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and taught him the Word of God all night. Through this Word of the Gospel—free salvation by faith in Christ—the Holy Spirit gave this jailer and all His household true saving faith. They were baptized, and they rejoiced in the peace which God grants to penitent sinners.
We never know when or through whom the Holy Spirit will work around us. So let us always be proclaiming the Gospel in our prayers and in our songs, testifying to all the grace of God through Christ!
Prayer: O God, Who makest the minds of the faithful to be of one will: Grant unto Thy people that they may love what Thou commandest, and desire what Thou dost promise; that, among the manifold changes of this world, our hearts may there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
