The Work of God in Every Heart: Acts 16 Devotional

“He then brought them out and asked, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved’…” —ACTS 16:30-31

Jesus Christ is the absolute Lord of the Harvest. As Christians, we are the instruments He uses to bring people to Himself, but it is the Spirit of God who brings understanding, enlightenment, conviction and spiritual life into the hearts of people. 

This is clearly evidenced in the city of Philippi, where Paul and Silas encounter three entirely different people from such diverse walks of life that the only explanation for their conversion to Christ is that God was at work in their hearts. They first meet Lydia, a business woman, most certainly educated, wealthy and affluent in society. She was a tender-hearted woman who worshipped God, but didn’t really know Him. 

Paul and Silas then encounter a demon-possessed slave girl who earned her masters a living by telling fortunes. Materially, socially and spiritually, she is the complete opposite of Lydia; a girl with a tormented heart, sinful, abused and wounded, but she is the real thing. For days she followed Paul and Silas, hounding them in the streets. Though deeply troubled by her, Paul ignores her at first, but when the time was right, in the name of the Lord Jesus, he commanded the evil spirit to leave her and it left her at once.

The girl’s owners were so infuriated at having lost their livelihood that they incited a riot against Paul and Silas. They were arrested, beaten, severely flogged and cast into prison where they encountered the toughened heart of the jailor who had locked them into stocks. Paul and Silas were singing praises and worshipping God when around midnight, an earthquake erupted, doors swung open and chains fell off. The jailor drew his sword, about to kill himself, rather than being put to death by far crueller means, having allowed prisoners to escape. But Paul shouts out, “Stop, we are all here!” And this hard-hearted man falls trembling before Paul and Silas, and asks, “What must I do to be saved?”

These were three completely different people from completely different spectrums of life; the tender-hearted Lydia; the troubled-hearted slave girl and the hard-hearted jailor who came to Christ, because God did a work in their hearts. Salvation is always a work of God. To rely on the measure of our own ingenuity will be the measure of our powerlessness. As Christians, we need to prayerfully depend upon Christ, and we’ll begin to see things happen. Sometimes we’ll sow the seed, sometimes water it, and other times we’ll reap a harvest. Evangelism is not mastering anything at all, but is being sensitive to God’s Spirit and meeting people at their point of need.

Dear Lord, I ask that You use me in all kinds of situations to bring others to You. Grant me a heart sensitive to Your Spirit so I will know when to act and with whom.

What steps can I take that will help me to hear more clearly the voice of God?