Leah Grace Friday night Bible study has become one of my favorite weekly happenings.
As a small group, we are going through the book of Acts, and just a couple weeks ago we read Acts 16.
I was so struck by the profoundness of Paul and Silas praying and singing in praise while they were imprisoned. Having been brutally beaten and put in stocks, they remained in a jail cell for nothing other than doing the Lord’s work (Acts 16:22-25).
While meditating on this passage of Scripture, it wasn’t hard to imagine how I might have responded if I were in that situation.
“God, this is so unfair! I did nothing wrong!”
Anger, depression, fear, complaints. That would be considered a normal response, right? Yet Paul and Silas had an understanding that I believe many “Christians” today don’t have: this thing wasn’t about them.
As I left Bible study that night, I had one takeaway: everything I do should be based on doing the work of God. I was so convicted by how Paul and Silas took the focus off of themselves, how they got their eyes off of their circumstances—as horrible and depressing as they looked—and fixed their eyes on Jesus.
The very next day, I had a chance to try for myself. I had a bit of a rough day, thinking about a lot of things and starting to feel a bit overwhelmed.
By the end of the day, I knew what I needed to do: get the focus off of myself and instead look to Jesus, the answer to everything that I was facing.
I got alone and went to the piano, and began to worship. I decided to play songs that were exclusively focused on God and His goodness, rather than my circumstances with a desperate plea for help.
I set my eyes on the Father and begin to simply praise Him because He is good. I praised Him because He is worthy of all the glory. I sang to Him that I am where I am because of who He is and what He’s done for me. I worshipped, declaring that I would continue to, whether in the mountain or on the valley, when it was hard or easy, because there is no one like Him.
As I did this, these words started to become my reality. Because rather than focusing on my circumstances and negative feelings, I set my eyes on the One who is the answer to all of them and deserved my praise no matter what.
At that moment, I didn’t even tell the Lord through prayer all of the ways I was feeling, all of my negative emotions, and everything else going on around me. He already knew and had a plan to fix it.
Not only does He have every answer—He is every answer.
And so, when I was feeling down, I focused on His goodness, power, and His love.
I set my mind on praising the Lord rather than giving the enemy the satisfaction of seeing me dwell on his works. I decided that I was going to focus on giving to the Lord (praise and adoration) rather than trying to receive from Him (help and comfort).
And the most incredible thing happened…as I gave my worship to the Father, He gave back to me—He filled up my empty cup with the reminder and peace that He is only and always good.
He showed me that I can trust in His lovingkindness because He only wants what’s best for me. He loves me and the people around me.
That day at the piano, I got to experience what I had read about in Acts 16, things that happened thousands of years ago.
I wasn’t set free from prison through an earthquake—but I looked to God in hard times and He gave me His out-of-the-world peace.
This is because God is still the same! He doesn’t change! His plans for us, His love for us, and His character, never change.
So why should we think that supernatural peace and joy would work for Paul and Silas, and not for us?
Paul and Silas were set free that night because their hearts were fully devoted to doing the Lord’s work and living for Him regardless of what their circumstances looked like.
That was a life-changing revelation to me.
It was such a reminder that the Father just wants my life, my heart. He wants me to seek first His kingdom and righteousness, not my own comfort and security.
Complaining about circumstances, falling into fear, or letting the enemy get to you, is setting the mind on the flesh—those things you can see.
The Bible says setting your mind on the flesh leads to death (Romans 8:6).
I was shown, by Scripture and by the Holy Spirit, that to set the mind on the Spirit truly is life and peace because Jesus is always the answer.
So why not take the focus off of what’s going on around us and put it on the One we serve!
Paul + Silas were able to worship from their chains because they knew their God and they knew why they were in jail. They were able to joyfully praise God because they weren’t living for themselves.
Their joy was not determined by their circumstances. They sought first God’s kingdom, so they weren’t fazed by what happened to them—they knew they were exactly where they needed to be: inside of God’s will.
As the body of Christ, I believe it’s time for us to stop taking our trials so personally and thinking that everything is about what’s the most comfortable for us.
Our comfort and fleshly desires—some that may not even be sinful!—shouldn’t have any ground against following Jesus wherever it takes us.
Everything should be about the kingdom of God being preached. It’s about living like Yeshua. It’s about seeking first God’s kingdom, His righteousness, above all else.
That’s where we have life and peace. That’s where we can sing when we’re in stocks, praise when we have been beaten, mocked, or treated unjustly.
When we are seeking first God’s kingdom, we’re doing things His way.
Never has God ever failed anyone who was seeking Him with a whole, pure heart.
You have to seek Him with right motives. You don’t get the promises of God without the God of those promises—yet you will find God when you search for Him with all of your heart (Jeremiah 29:13).
Then, you will have real joy and fulfillment when Yeshua is your mindset-determining reality, and not your circumstances.
If you live only for this life, you can’t expect to walk in all that God has promised. But when you live the life of Jesus for His will and His kingdom, that’s when you can expect to see Him.
You’ll truly know Him. You’ll truly experience Him. His reality will become your reality and then your circumstances won’t determine how you feel or what you believe.
And all of this…comes from simply turning your eyes to the Father and seeking His kingdom above all else.
Matthew 6:33a
“But seek first His [God’s] kingdom and His righteousness…”
“Then, you will have real joy and fulfillment when Yeshua is your mindset-determining reality, and not your circumstances.”
That struck me. Leah, it’s so cool that you wrote about seeking first the kingdom of God, because I just read that verse today and I asked the Lord to show me what it meant for me in my life. I’m going to keep thinking about this a letting the Holy Spirit show me what I need to know, but I think your blog post was a part of that process! Thank you!
I’m so so glad!! <3
This is such a profound post, Leah! Oftentimes we can find ourselves thinking that God is here to serve us, but in reality, we’re here to serve Him. God doesn’t need us (which is why His love is so amazing!) but we so desperately need Him. And He is enough, even in the “prison cells” of life. Thanks for this encouraging reminder! <3
The focus definitely should be on serving Him! You’re very welcome. (:
Oh! This entire post blessed me and spoke deep into my soul. I especially like how you brought out that the Promises of God go hand-in-hand with the God of those promises. The reality is, once we have the God of those promises, we need nothing else – we then will have it all! Not even circumstances can change that as you reminded us of Paul + Silas. Huzzah! Hallelujah!!
I’m so glad! Yes, you’re absolutely right!