The battle
Life is a battle. Perhaps for some more than others. An argument at work, a family disagreement at home, road rage, world wars, divorce, raising children, dealing with parents, at the bank, on the phone with a service provider... any time of day, in any area of life, battles can come to us.
Acts 16 is a long chapter and worth a read, but here's a summary from verse 16:
- Paul and Silas cast a demon out of a woman slave.
- Her owners were annoyed because the demon-possessed woman was making money for them!
- Her owners then complain to the authorities, who then order them to be stripped and beaten with rods.
- After being flogged, they were thrown into prison.
- While they sang hymns of praise to God in prison (not the first thing you would imagine them doing!), along came an earthquake that opened the doors of the prison. They did not escape.
- The guard/jailer almost kills himself, but instead, through the work of Paul and Silas, he is converted, along with his whole family.
- Paul and Silas are released.
It's really worth reading the whole chapter! But let's just compare these few verses:
Acts 16:22
22The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods.
And this:
Acts 16:25-26
25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.
There is the battle. And it looks like a battle of flesh and blood, people against people, but it is not. It is a battle, as Paul says in Ephesians 6, of the spiritual realm.
It begins with a demon being cast out and ends with an earthquake setting Paul and Silas free. In between, people try to kill them. This is the work of the evil one. Anything to upset the work of God. Anything to TRY and stop the work of the Spirit of God. Satan's work is in the evil of disruption. He is the great deceiver, the distractor, the one who brings chaos. When God is at work, he rises up against Him.
But the battle has already been won. When Jesus died on the cross and rose again, the battle over Satan was won forever. His resurrection could not be undone, no matter how much the evil one attacks. Here is the end result in Acts 16:
Acts 16:34
34The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.
This chapter resolves in peace. Peace on Paul and Silas, and peace for the jailer and his family. The work of the evil one is to destroy peace. He is hoping that our arguments at work and home, on the road and in our schools, will bring chaos and destroy peace. Although arguments are unavoidable, the Spirit of God is at work to bring peace and reconciliation - between us and God, and between us and others.
I encourage you to read the chapter and notice how God is working constantly to bring peace, while the evil one is working constantly to bring disruption. When we find ourselves in a battle, how can we work to be a peacemaker? Because by doing so, we will be working with, and not against, the Spirit of God.
Prayer
Father, I pray for your help with my battles today. Help me to work with your Spirit to bring peace to the places I am, among the people I am with in my life. Give me confidence and trust that you are with me, helping me, guiding me, and giving me the words of peace to speak into every situation.
[Perhaps now you could bring before God any particular battles you may currently be facing at the moment]
Amen.