5×5×5 Bible Plan
Read: Acts 16
Meditation: Acts 16:25
But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
Shift Your Focus… Bible teacher and author Warren Wiersby wrote about his recovery from a serious automobile accident. In the hospital, he began receiving letters of encouragement from a man he’d never met, and his own recovery was greatly aided by this man’s inspiration.
Later, when he met the man, he was shocked to find a blind, severely diabetic, amputee who lived with and cared for his elderly mother. And the man shared Christ in his spare time as a motivational speaker! He turned his disadvantages to his advantage, and his courage, determination and joy greatly inspired others to do the same!
I’ll bet you’ve got some disadvantages of your own. Perhaps not as dramatic as this man’s physical challenges, or dramatic as Paul’s imprisonment here in the city of Philippi. Or maybe they are.
Here is my question for you: Is there any reason why you can’t allow your difficulties to be used as opportunities to show forth the glory of God? People are watching you, after all. Just as the other prisoners were listening to Paul and Silas sing hymns to God in spite of the beating they had just received, people are watching how you go through your challenges as well. And the truth is, you have no greater opportunity to make an impact on others than by allowing your suffering to be redemptive.
If you are interested in redeeming your sufferings, as weird as that may sound, here is how you can you do that:
Begin by identifying the negatives in your life right now. Write them down on a piece of paper—things like physical limitations, financial challenges, a hard marriage, singleness, hostile work environment.
Next, thank God for each one of them. Famed Scottish theologian and hymn-writer George Matheson once prayed,
“My God, I have never thanked Thee for my thorns. I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but not once for my thorns. I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross: but I have never thought of my cross as itself a present glory. Teach me the glory of my cross: teach me the value of my thorn. Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbow.”
By the way, Matheson went totally blind when he was 20. If a young man who lost his sight in the prime of his life can thank God for it, you can practice gratitude for the stuff you are going through.
Finally, determine to take advantage of your disadvantages to talk about Jesus this week. Here’s the thing: Whatever negative circumstances you are facing, this may be your finest hour.
Back in World War II, Adolph Hitler’s army had demolished the European allies, and only the British military remained to stand against the advancing Nazi’s. But Britain was on the brink of defeat as well, when Winston Churchill, the great Prime Minister stood before Parliament and declared, “Let us brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire…last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’”
My prayer is that whatever your challenges, the people who are watching you will be able to say, “this was your finest hour.”
“God made [Joseph] fruitful in the very things that afflicted him. In the land of your affliction, in your battle, is the place where God will make you fruitful. Consider, even now, the area of greatest affliction in your life. In that area, God will make you fruitful in such a way that your heart will be fully satisfied, and God’s heart fully glorified. God has not promised to keep us from valleys and sufferings, but to make us fruitful in them.” ~Francis Frangipane
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