The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Acts 16:16-22, “And it happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortunetelling.
17 Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.”
18 And she continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very moment.
19 But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities,
20 and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews,
21 and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.”
22 And the crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them, and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods.”

There’s an old saying, “Out of the frying pan into the fire.” Unfortunately, that appears to be the lot of Paul and Silas. Lydia had just been saved, the LORD having opened her heart to the Gospel. So, once again, Paul and Silas were going to the place of prayer, undoubtedly, the same place where they first met Lydia. Do you have things that hinder your prayer life? I’m sure we all do, but none quite like what Paul and Silas encountered.

It’s deeply saddening what some men do with others. Still, what they do is not new. We have human slave-traders in our world today. The men that our spiritual due encountered possessed a slave-girl, who was possessed by a demon-spirit. We’ve become somewhat sophisticated today, and we put other names on such activities, but demon spirits do exist and they earnestly seek to hinder and stamp out the work of the LORD and His servants.

Whether Paul would have otherwise ignored this girl, we do not know, but she provoked him because she made fun of what they were doing. The LORD’s Name and work were at risk, so he commanded the evil spirit to cease and desist and come out of the girl. It’s worthy of notice that the men who used this girl were not-at-all concerned about her; they were concerned about their loss of money from her evil works. Shamefully, that’s true of such evil workings today.

When the men lied in complaining to the authorities, Paul and Silas were arrested, beaten with rods, and thrown into prison. Now, what are they to do? Where is the LORD in all of this? Does this situation look hopeless? Do you and I often find ourselves in similar, seemingly hopeless situations? Not to worry, the LORD takes notice of all these things. The hymn writer said, “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.” With everyone against them, there seems no way out. Yet, the LORD’s servants have not lost hope. They are about to start singing! And we would do well to rejoice in the LORD, despite the seemingly hopelessness of our situations. Try rejoicing! Another song says, “When you know the LORD, you need nobody else to see you through the darkest night.”

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom