Fresh StartSample

In Philippi, there was a girl who was being controlled by an evil spirit. The evil spirit inside of her led her to predict the future, and her owners made a lot of money off her fortune-telling. After days of following Paul and Silas around and yelling, Paul cast the evil spirit out of her in Jesus’ name. She was free! But her owners were furious—they had lost their money maker. The men had Paul and Silas beaten and arrested. Bruised and beaten and in the stocks, Paul and Silas didn’t complain. Their thoughts weren’t: “Hey, God. We were doing Your work. And now we end up beaten and in prison? This is what following You results in?” They might have been tempted to think that way. Instead, the two men started praying and singing songs to God.

A short time later, Paul would pen these words to the people in that same city, giving insight into how he was able to praise God from the stocks: Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things (Philippians 4:8). Even though Paul and Silas’ situation looked dark, they chose to think about God’s goodness and trust God’s heart. When your circumstances are dark and difficult, don’t let them dictate your view of who God is. Remind your hurting heart about His goodness, and hold His hand as He walks you through what you cannot see. He is walking with you every step of the way.