Acts 16 - From a Prayer Meeting to a Prison

Scripture Reading

Acts chapter 16

Scripture Verse

Acts 16.14 Lydia - ‘The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul’

Yesterday we discovered that Paul travelled a lot to tell people about Jesus and salvation. People who do that are often called evangelists or missionaries. Today Paul travels by boat and arrives in the city of Philippi.

Philippi was a long way from home for Paul. It was a quite a special city. There would have been some rich people living there as they had some gold mines nearby. If you had been there for a couple of days you might have thought that you were in Rome. The street signs would have been the same and the people dressed the same. In fact it was a little bit of Rome in another country.

Paul would have been very happy in Philippi as he was Roman as well as a Jewish. After Paul had been there for a couple of days he decided to go for a walk. He went out of the city gates and ended up on the banks of the River Angites. At the river there were some ladies who were praying. Paul sat down to speak to them. One of the ladies, Lydia, was a businesswoman who sold purple cloth which she had imported from the city of Thyatira. After she heard what Paul told her about Jesus she responded and the Lord Jesus saved her.

While Paul was in the town he got into trouble!  He had helped free a slave girl from demon possession and the evil men she worked for were angry about it. Paul ended up in Prison. It was a really bad night for Paul and his friend Silas but God helped them through the night. The man who ran the prison became a Christian in the end. Unbelievably this story ends with a happy ending. God can bring good things out of bad if we are prepared to trust Him. 

Suggested Prayer

Dear God, I am amazed to learn how people all over the world can become followers of Jesus.