PRAY: Father in Heaven, thank you for the invitation to engage with you in prayer. Thank you for meeting with me in prayer and worship of you. Give me a desire to know you more and to dedicate a portion of each day to meeting with you in prayer.

READ: Acts 16:13, 16, 25

REFLECT:

Acts 16 introduces us to three people who gain salvation and freedom in Jesus’ name. Lydia the business woman, a slave girl possessed by an evil spirit and the Philippian jailer are three people from very different walks of life. Yet these three conversion stories share a common thread: prayer.

We read earlier in the chapter that Paul and his team were directed in their travels by the Holy Spirit. They were called by God to Macedonia through a vision of a Macedonian man crying for help. It’s clear that communication with God was crucial in developing their ministry plans.

Each of the three conversion stories in Philippi begins with Paul and Silas in prayer, or on their way to the place of prayer. After arriving in Macedonia, on their way to pray, they meet Lydia, and her family is saved. Again, on the way to pray, they meet the slave girl, who is then saved from an evil spirit. And finally, while they are praying and singing praises in jail, an earthquake occurs that eventually leads to the salvation of the jailer and his entire household.

Like Paul and Silas, we desire to be used by God to reach others with the gospel. Acts 16 gives us insight into how Paul conducted his ministry. Again and again, we see Paul praying, or on the way to pray—and God accomplishes amazing things.

RESPOND:

How often are you spending time in prayer to ask God for your next steps? Is God leading you when you seek him? What can you do today to dedicate part of your day to prayer for your ministry and the salvation of others? As you share Jesus with those that God has placed in your life, ask God to direct you and keep you faithful to prayer and worship to God before all else.

By: Nick Runyon, Director, CV North America