While in Philippi, Paul was being followed by a slave girl. She shouted that Paul was telling people the way to be saved, but Paul saw her not as an asset to his ministry, but as a girl possessed by an evil spirit. He freed her from the spirit. Her owners did not appreciate this, because for them she was a source of income by her fortune telling. They accused Paul and Silas before the authorities, who beat them and threw them into prison.

Suddenly at midnight God intervened through a violent earthquake. The jailer intended to kill himself, thinking all the prisoners would escape. But Paul and Silas prevented this, saying, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” God used this event to make believers of the jailer and his family. This is how the church at Philippi grew.

The next morning the magistrates ordered Paul’s release, but he demanded to know why they had mistreated a Roman citizen without due process. Paul did not allow God’s work to be humiliated.
Application: Lord, thank you for your saving work. Help me to honor your name and use me to bring your saving work to many.
One Word: Believe and you will be saved