Friday, December 1, 2023

Follow up

So, they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.  Acts 16:40

  Have you ever had a friend or even someone from your past randomly come to your thoughts?  Maybe it was someone you hadn’t talked to in a while or maybe it was a person that seemed like they had it all together and never really seemed to need encouragement.  It happens to me quite often.  For many years I didn’t know what to do with the thoughts when they came, but then the Holy Spirit showed me to pray for those who come to mind.  As I began to pray for those seemingly random people coming into my memory, I would feel inspired to reach out and encourage them.  Sometimes I would think: “they are doing fine and don’t care what I have to say to them.”  Other times I would consider that I hadn’t spoken to that person in years and now I am sending them a message out of the blue?  Wouldn’t that be weird? 

Despite my reservations, now I am determined to reach out and encourage whomever I have random thoughts about.  I now recognize that the person whoever it is was put on my heart by the Holy Spirit to pray for and encourage them.  I cannot even remember a time that I reached out randomly to someone, and they didn’t respond with something about my encouragement being exactly what they needed at that time.  But even if there was a time, I still continue to follow that leading because I know that is why the person came to my mind in the first place.  Then after a couple days have passed, I circle back around and check in again to let that person know I am still praying and thinking of them.  It’s just a follow up message to check back in to let them know they are not alone.

In today’s reading, the apostle Paul and Silas were released from Prison after being wrongly accused.  However, they didn’t just up and leave town, huffing and puffing about the mistreatment they received in Phillipi, the circled back around to check in the with the church at Lydia’s house.  Not so that the people there could encourage them as they continued on their mission, but so that Paul and his team could encourage the brethren there and tell them to keep up the good fight of faith.

Can you imagine going through a terrible set of circumstances that were no fault of your own, but then turning around and encouraging someone else who wasn’t even really going through anything traumatic.  I imagine Paul wanted to let the church know that everything turned out for good and they should not be afraid to continue in the work they were doing in the region.  It was the right thing to do so that the people there would be strengthened in their faith for the impossible.

So today I want to encourage you to check up on those you have been walking through life with in the good and the bad.  Send out a message of support and let them know you are praying for them.  Regardless of what you are going through or have been through, let others know God is still at work and miracles still happen.  You may not see your prison chains fall off in the physical world, but you can for sure see them fall in the spirit realm.  Share your miracles and victories with those who are afraid and worried and assure them that God will never let them down when they put their trust in Him.

Today’s scripture reading: Acts 16:35-40

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.”

37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us openly, un-condemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out.”

38 And the officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans. 

39 Then they came and pleaded with them and brought them out, and asked them to depart from the city. 

40 So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.