ACTS 16:16Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." 18She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her. 19When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or ractice." 22The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
Have you ever had "one of those days?" One of those days when there was a hint that things were not going to go well, and then it got worse? One of those days when one bad thing after another seemed to hit you before you could recover? One of those days when you’ve just told someone, "Well, at lease things can’t get any worse." And then it does? Let me share some examples of what I’m talking about. These are true stories:
1. The average cost of rehabilitating a seal after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska was $80,000. At a special ceremony, two of the most expensively saved animals were released back into the wild amid cheers and applause from onlookers. A minute later both of the seals were eaten by a killer whale.
2. In 1992, Frank Perkins of Los Angeles made an attempt on the world record flag-pole sitting record. Unfortunately he had to come down only eight hours short of the 400 day record. When he got down he found that his sponsor had gone bust, his girlfriend had left him, and his phone and electricity had been cut off.
3. A woman came home to find her husband in the kitchen, shaking frantically with what looked like a wire running from his waist towards the electric kettle. Intending to knock him free from the deadly current she found a large piece of wood and whacked him on his arm, breaking his arm in two places. What a shame, he had only been listening to his Walkman.
4. Then there was the Iraqi terrorist, Khay Rahnajet, who didn’t put enough postage on a letter bomb he had mailed. It came back stamped, "return to sender." You guessed it, he opened it and it exploded in his face almost killing him.
Our Scripture text shows us that the Apostle Paul and Silas were having "one of those days." They were on a missionary journey in the area of Philippi and initially things seemed to be going all right. There was no synagogue in the area, but they met several women down by the river who were hungry for God, and who would accept the gospel. One of these women, Lydia, would become instrumental in spreading the gospel into Europe.
One day, however, things began to change. They were out by the river for prayer and a certain woman, who had been a fortune teller, began to follow Paul and Silas declaring, "These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation." Now, at first this might have seemed like a good thing--free advertising. But this didn’t just happen once or twice; she kept up this chant for "many days." What might have appeared, at first, to be a good thing was becoming a nuisance and a distraction. Finally, Paul couldn’t take it any longer so he turned around and said to the demonic spirit by which she was possessed and from which she received her apparent fortune telling power, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And she was delivered from the demonic spirit. Of course she also lost her powers of soothsaying.
This young woman was being used by certain influential men in the community to make money. When they saw what Paul and Silas had done they seized them and dragged them to the marketplace. And things just go from bad to worse for Paul and Silas from here. They were brought before a kangaroo court, were found guilty, were stripped, beaten severely and thrown into the inner prison where their feet were fastened in stocks. This had been a bad day. As a matter of fact, it seems that the constant chanting of the woman had made it a bad several days for Paul and Silas.
BAD DAYS ONLY GET WORSE FOR SINNERS What about you? Have you ever had a bad day? Can I be perfectly honest with you and tell you that I’ve had bad months. In fact, there are a couple years when I was not serving Christ which went from bad, to badder and baddest. A sinner really hasn’t got much hope of things getting significantly better. The Prophet Amos describes the
unrighteous as a man who runs from a lion and meets a bear, and then when he gets to the house and leans on the wall in exhaustion, only to have a snake bite him. AMOS 5:9
For those that are not ready to meet the Lord, days will become worse and worse. REV 20:10 says "They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever." And that’s AFTER what they go thru in the tribulation, when Satan is released to do his will...There will
be one judgment after another poured out upon the earth.
For the Child of God a bad day is only preparation for better days ahead. While it is true that even a Child of God can have a bad day, a bad day cannot have the last word. God gets the last Word and His Word says in PS 30:5 weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. Again, in ROMANS 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.And again in JOHN 16:33 we see God’s promise for His Children; "In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world"
So how do you turn around a bad day? Let’s see how Paul and Silas handled it...vs 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. The problem of overcoming bad days down to this simple equation: "Prayer plus Praise equals Deliverance."
A. Begin with Prayer. Start by calling upon the Name of the Lord. JAMES 4:2 says "You have not because you ask not". We are so busy trying to un-do our problems that we forget to do what Jesus instructs us to do...look in JOHN 16:24 Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. Jesus WANTS you to have joy! MAT 11:30 says For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Have you ever used the term "make it easy on yourself?" Christians need to do that!
Isn’t it strange that sometimes the crises of the moment causes us to forget to do the very things which will save us? Have you ever been in a situation which caused you great distress and later, after the storm had passed, thought, "Oh, if I’d only done this or that!" my yoke is easy and my burden is light....give it to Jesus...
Sometimes our bad days are bad days simply because we did not take it to the Lord in prayer. Joseph Scrivens knew of the power of prayer to sustain the believer in the time of trouble. Joseph’s fiancee drown on the night before their scheduled wedding. Later, when his mother was ill, He wrote her a letter and enclosed the lines of a new poem he had written. We know the song as, "What A Friend We Have In Jesus." In the first verse Joseph expressed this ironic truth:
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer.
There’s the story of the son that went to jump on the bumper of a moving truck in order to hitch a short ride across the yard. His Dad didn’t see him and whenever the man jumped up, the vehicle was moving. He slid down and was being dragged for several yards before his Dad heard him screaming. The Dad ran around behind the truck where he was still holding on to the bumper. He could see that he was scraped up and cut on his knees and legs, but he just had to ask the obvious question, "Why didn’t you let go?" God must be looking at some of us and wondering, "Why didn’t you let go?" Don’t let Satan drag you through life battered and scarred. Don’t forget to pray.
How do you turn around a bad day? Pray. Start every day on your knees and you will be able to stand where others have fallen. When a storm comes, pray and God will sustain you. At the end of the day when memories and cares come crushing in upon you, call upon the Lord, cast all your cares on Him, lay your head down and sleep like only the righteous can sleep.
B.Continue with Praise After Paul and Silas prayed, they began to sing hymns to God. They prayed and trusted God so what else is there to do but speak the language of faith. Praise--whether it be in song or in word--praise is the language of faith. The eyes of the natural man would have convinced Paul and Silas that their situation had not changed and there was nothing to sing about. But through eyes of faith they saw that God had not forsaken them. It says they began to "sing hymn to God." The prisoners heard them, but the praise was to God. How was it that they sang to God? Because God had not forsaken them. Even though it had been a bad day up to this point, and even though they were in chains and in prison, God was still by their side.
It takes faith to praise God when the day has been bad. It takes faith to sing, "Look what the Lord had done," and to those around you it doesn’t look like the Lord has done anything. But once we have prayed and put our problems in God’s hands, what else is there to do but praise? To do anything else is to suggest that either God didn’t hear, or God doesn’t care. If you believe He hears, and you know He cares, then praise Him!
PS 113:3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised. Wherever I am, I’ll praise Him. Whenever I can, I’ll praise Him. In the morning, noon and night, I will praise the Lord. Remember that song..Praise Him...
C. Deliverance Prayer plus Praise equals deliverance. As Paul and Silas sang, the prison was shaken, the doors were opened and they were delivered. Not only were they delivered, but they also led the prison guard and his whole household to the Lord. That is a pretty good day! God was working things together, even bad things, for good. God is no respecter of persons. If He will turn it around for Paul and Silas, He will turn it around for you. But don’t forget to pray, and don’t ever stop praising Him from whom all blessing flow. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
So how’s it going today? Have you been having a bad week? A bad year? A bad life? It’s time to turn it around. It’s time to come out of darkness and into His marvelous light. Don’t leave this place defeated. Don’t leave this place depressed and discouraged. There’s a way to turn around a bad day. There’s a way to find victory and to become an overcomer.
That son that was dragged by his Dad couldn’t blame his Dad, could he? He was the one who held on and allowed himself to be
dragged. And on the day when we each stand before God, we will not be able to blame Him if we have lived defeated lives. We will not be able to blame anyone else. We all give an account for the lives we lived and if we have allowed Satan to drag us through our seventy or so years depressed, discouraged, and defeated it is only because we would not let go of the reigns of our life and let God become our Lord. And what will we answer when He asks us simply, "Why didn’t you let go?" Let go today.
