Eat This Book
Read Proverbs Chapter 23
Acts 16
1 Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek:
2 Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium.
3 Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek.
4 And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem.
5 And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.
6 Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,
7 After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.
8 And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas.
9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.
10 And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.
11 Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis;
12 And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days.
13 And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.
15 And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.
16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,
20 And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,
21 And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.
22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.
23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.
27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
35 And when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go.
36 And the keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace.
37 But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out.
38 And the serjeants told these words unto the magistrates: and they feared, when they heard that they were Romans.
39 And they came and besought them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city.
40 And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.
The POFW Daily Bible Reading 
Listen to the Spirit
6 Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,
7 After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.
You would be smart to listen to the Holy Spirit and not go where the Spirit forbids you to go. Only when the Holy Spirit gives you freedom and releases you to go then GO!!!!!!!!
17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
Even the demons recognize who Jesus Christ is the MOST HIGH GOD. Still some people want to go around life without recognizing it. Open your eyes people if the enemy knows who Christ is; you would be smart to stand and recognize Him as your MOST HIGH GOD.
THERE IS POWER IN THE NAME OF JESUS
16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,
We are tempted to make an agreement with the devil concerning our future. The problem being the devil has nothing to do with our future, he can only deal with our past. Paul is our example and when we have had enough of the frustrating, annoying spirit of the devil, we simply must turn to face the opposition and COMMAND in the name of JESUS that the spirit come out. Peace and Deliverance quickly follow.
iRepent
iPraise
iPray
iWork
iGive
iReap
v6. Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,
Paul’s team ministered in Galatia, but Holy Ghost forbade them to travel into Asia at the time .
The Holy Ghost led and cormforted them .
Be led and comfort by HIS SPIRIT today and everyday . THE GHOST IS OUR LIFE.
IT’S THE LORD LIVING INSIDE US.
i Repent
iPray
iPraise
iGive
i Live
THE HOLY GHOST IS OUR LIFE., and dwells in us therefore i live and life.
THERE IS POWER IN THE NAME OF JESUS
THERE IS POWER IN PRAISE
25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.
27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
Beautiful illustration here of deliverance and salvation. We must remember that regardless of our setting or circumstance we possess the KEYS to our own deliverance and also the deliverance of others. When we PRAISE the atmosphere changes and special favor and victory is granted. When we PRAISE JESUS there is a special release of hunger in the soul desiring salvation.
iRepent
iPraise
iPray
iWork
iGive
iReap
13 And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.
15 And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.
16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,
Meeting on the Sabbath day and praying, then they sat down and began to talk about Jesus to those that were there. I believe there is always someone wanting to hear about the Lord. We need to find the right soul that is hungry and thirsty to tell them about Jesus.
Lydia seeing she was baptized and her household and the miracles that was did at the hands of the apostles. She carried Paul by one that was full of an evil spirit. The apostle could not allow the devil to tempt him and commanded the evil spirit to some out of the damsel.
We have the power, when we get the Holy Ghost to command evil spirits to go. We have power over the enemy, but what we must have to cast out spirits is the same thing we need to get the Holy Ghost. We must have faith to believe God will do what we commandment. We are his children and need to obey his commandments. We can say to this mount be thou removed and cast into the sea and it will happen.
Lord help our FAITH!!
25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.
What is your midnight cry?
Every time I hear the story of Paul and Silas I think of the song that says, “. . . we’ve got a right to shake the foundation with praise!” We know when what we do is right or wrong, and when we do what’s right, especially doing God’s work, we must then put all our trust in Him. We know He will never fail us, so praise Him as though you already have freedom and victory, and you will surely have it!
“But the Spirit suffered them not”. Their course (plans) was changed. One would be wise, regardless of the circumstance, too always heed the Spirit (Jesus). What a mighty God we serve, thank God for his word! God bless Jerusalem and you all, in Jesus name, Amen
Redeemed
1 Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek:
2 Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium.
3 Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek.
The Blood covers our past but that doesn’t mean we become anonymous, “face-less” individuals. We come with different backgrounds when we come to Christ, and while we do put away sin, we must realize that not all our past is meant to be heaped into the trash can and discarded. Jesus is our Redeemer, but that means more than just redeeming us from sin.
To redeem: compensate for the faults or bad aspects of (something); (of a person) atone or make amends for (error or evil); gain or regain possession of (something) in exchange for payment.
We see this broader idea of redemption at work in the story of Ruth:
Ruth 4:6-10
6 And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it.
7 Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel.
8 Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe.
9 And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, of the hand of Naomi.
10 Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day.
Ruth was not in sin because she was widowed, but she needed redemption. When she was redeemed, she went on to be the grandmother of the famous King David, of whose lineage Christ was born. God used Boaz in this example to redeem Ruth’s life, to take what was broken and change it for His purpose and glory.
In that same way, there are things from our past that God will redeem for His use if we let Him. It’s a trick of the enemy to make us think everything from our past is useless. As we grow in grace, we can grow in redemption and allow God to use *all* of us as He desires, even things from before being born into the Kingdom.
A personal example for me is graphic design. It started before Christ but has been redeemed and used for His purpose since then. At first, I washed my hands of it because I saw the corruption of worldly marketing, media, etc and thought “well it must all be bad.” But I was reminded that graphic design is simply visual communication, and where’s there’s a means of communication, the Gospel can be shared.
God has abundant, redeemed living for us, but we must have faith to let Him lead us into that.
John 10:10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
The charge was that Paul was teaching an illicit faith and thus corrupting society. Coupled with the scornful these men are Jews the charge aroused the passions of the Mob. The magistrates rather than investigate had the two flogged and jailed for disturbing the peace.
Accusations
And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. (Acts 16:19-22 KJV)
These two men were doing the will of God. They were listening and preaching what they should. When they shone light into the darkness around then others didn’t like it. The crowd began to cause them and to say terrible things about them.
This is the kind of thing that we ALL must pray against for Pastor. He goes through so many things that we just can’t imagine what it us like. We know that he is able to hear from The Lord and to pass his revolutions on to us, but other people might not like the light that is exposed. Darkness has to flee when there is light. When things are brought out into the open other people might not like it and they may start trying to get Pastor in trouble. They may rvencibdemnhimto death.
Pray that the accusers would close their mouths. Pray that their blind eyes would be opened and their deaf ears would be I stopped. Pray that pastor would have the support and encouragement that he needs to continue fight for The Lord in the city if Fort Worth.
Baptism
Acts 16:33 (NASBStr)
And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household.
There is a false doctrine that preaches baptism is merely a public confession of faith. This scripture, the story of the eunuch in acts 8, and many others testify different. Baptism is the application of the blood of Jesus to a sinners life so that their sins are washed away.
If baptism wasn’t important or was merely a suggestion that a “good” Christian should do, then why make haste to baptize a jailor in the middle of the night.
There was a prisoner who converted to Christ in Houston Texas and the minister petitioned. To take him to church to baptize him. The jail rejected this because of the prisoners reputation. So they got creative and brought a tub of water in the jail house to baptize this man. Two guards stood watch as the man was bound by hand and foot with handcuffs. He went down in the name of Jesus and when he arose from the water his cuffs were loosed. When someone goes under the blood they come up free!! This demonstration of God caused the two jailors to be baptized too.
Baptism is washing away of iniquity. It is essential to the Christians life not a recommendation.
ILove to eat the Word
There is so much meat to eat in today’s blog. One lesson to be learned is to always listen to the Holy Ghost. It’s pretty amazing and bazaar that the Holy Ghost told them “not” to preach the Gospel to Asia and yet to preach elsewhere. Yet we know that the 7 churches in the book of Revelation were churches in Asia. This tells us there is a time and place for everything. We must listen to the Spirit.
27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
How many of us would have hung around to see him saved? Most of us would have went straight for the door. It takes courage to be a real Christian. The question is how much do we want it?
25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.
One praise away..! Wow what power can our praise have not only did we see here in this chapter that it set them free but it caused and was used as a witnessing tool that it so touched the guard that even him asked, “what must I do to be saved. Your praise may not only liberate you but those around you. Worship is the way the battle is won!
6 Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,
7 After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.
8 And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas.
9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.
Just like the children of Israel were led by the fire by night and the cloud by day we also need to be led by the spirit the same way.
They picked up their tents, and everything they had when they saw the cloud begin to move.
Remaining in the will of God ensures blessings from God.
25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.
Prayer and praises can do many wonders
What Must I Do?
Can it really be that simple? In a world that grows more and more complex, is the message of Christ still simple enough for a child to understand (Mt 19:14)? The answer is resounding “Yes!”
When the jailer realizes that the prison doors are open, he draws his sword and gets ready to impale himself. He knows the penalty for a Roman gaurd who lets prisoners escape- death. But, out of the dark comes a voice, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” (vs28). Shaken by the earthquake and his own near death, the jailer cries out and asks what is necessary for him to have the faith that has allowed this persecuted band of missionaries to not only sing while imprisioned, but also to extend grace to the one who has kept them captive. The answer? Not a list of do’s and don’ts. Not a call to pages of doctrine. Not a time of probation to prove sincerity. No, it is the same sinple answer given to every seeking heart: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved- you and your household.” It really is that simple. First he had to believe -confess his belief and repent, afterward he and his household was baptised, then was filled “with great joy” (vs34) the Holy Ghost.
30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
There is always more that can be received from God. Too many people are stuck on just accepting God but we must show acts of love by abiding by His word. How are you showing God you love Him?