Having a Joyful Attitude in a Time of Difficulty (TMF:468)

Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Peace to Live By: Having a Joyful Attitude in a Time of Difficulty (TMF:468) - Daniel Litton
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       So, first, let’s talk about having a joyful attitude. A particularly good example of this is found in the New Testament of being joyful in spite of our circumstances. I want us to turn to Acts chapter 16. Paul and Silas gave us a good model of having a right attitude when they were locked up in prison in Philippi. Paul had commanded a demon to come out of a servant girl which she had used for fortune telling. We read in Acts chapter 16, in verse 25, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them” (ESV). Now, this is pretty remarkable. Here you had two servants of God who had been locked up, in prison, and beforehand they had been harshly beaten. And these two men were both “praying… to God” and “singing hymns” to him. How do you sing when you are in such a circumstance? After all, they hadn’t done anything wrong at all, yet they were being punished as criminals. Remember what James has told us? He said, “Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet trials of various kinds” (James 1:2, ESV). Paul and Silas gave us the epic example of this. If we continue reading the passage in James, he says, “for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:3, 4, ESV).