Believer - a Five-Day Devotional by Rhett WalkerSample

Day 2

I know this is not my home

I know I don't walk alone

No matter what comes my way

I have peace through the trouble

I have joy though the struggle

And now my hope's in a brighter day

The enemy doesn’t stop. There’s no off day. The whispers don’t let up. That’s what the Satan wants to do - kill, steal and destroy - to tear you and everything you care about apart. That’s why we have to rejoice in the Lord. The only way to combat is praise. Paul and Silas knew how to keep their focus and rejoice. In Acts 16:16, the story talks about this possessed girl who is following Paul and Silas. Pause right there - that’s a focus killer. If I’m walking with my friends and The Ring girl is following me, I’m not just still walking and talking. Then it says that she followed them for many days! Fast forward - Paul commands the spirit, in the name of Jesus, to come out of her, and it does. Which then, (spoiler alert if you haven’t finished reading Acts), gets them dragged to the marketplace where they then become prisoners. They get their clothes ripped off and beat with rods, then they were thrown in prison. Then Paul’s like, ‘Hey, everyone. Rejoice in the Lord always!’ Paul understood his life was not his. He understood that all he could offer was Praise to God. His focus was not wavered. He rejoiced. Again, the only way to fight back to the enemy is Praise. The whispers get drowned out. Praise brings focus to a spiraling mind. When we rejoice in Jesus, we declare war! So, in Acts 16:25 Paul and Silas, at midnight, were not giving into the thoughts of depression, not claiming it’s over, and not fearing the next minute. They were drowning out the whispers. They were praying and singing hymns to God. Suddenly, in the middle of the praise, a great earthquake comes, the doors were open and shackles hit the ground. You wanna walk free as a new creation in Christ, rejoice in the one who gave you freedom, even when you don’t feel like rejoicing.