Suffering Salvation.

Act 16:30  And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 

Yesterday we studied the above- The prison jailer was shocked to discover all the prisoners were still in their cells without any shackles or doors to hold them. This man was so shocked he knew that what Paul and Silas were guilty of was false, that their praying and singing and all they were as disciples of Jesus was true. Going from a hairsbreadth from committing suicide to asking the disciples what he must do to be saved, this man was converted to follow Christ!

Act 16:31  And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. 

Act 16:32  And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. 

Act 16:33  And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. 

Act 16:34  And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. 

Amazing! Simply amazing! They told the man to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, him and his house, his family.  Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to the jailer and his family and then they went to the river and washed the blood from their bodies and then baptized the jailer and his family, all in the same hour. AMAZING! The power of the Holy Spirit at work, the wonder of the gospel of our Savior!

The jailer then brought them all back to his house and fed them, rejoicing, believing in God- all of them!

Such an amazing conversion.  Paul and Silas were whipped and imprisoned, could it have been solely for the ultimate salvation of the jailer and his family? Paul counted all his hardships as joy, he knew God had a reason, a purpose for ultimate eternal good in all He allowed.

Paul suffered so much, as did many followers of Christ.

Are we to suffer? When we suffer can we count it joy? Does God have an ultimate purpose for our agonies? Can we trust Him towards that end? Can any suffering we undergo be worth it all for the salvation of a single person?

God's will in all things! We would be tremendously blessed if anything we do brings a single person closer to our Savior and His amazing love.

May God use us, all in HIS LOVE!

Act 16:35  And when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go. 

Act 16:36  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. 

Act 16:37  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. 

Act 16:38  And the serjeants told these words unto the magistrates: and they feared, when they heard that they were Romans. 

Act 16:39  And they came and besought them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city. 

Act 16:40  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.