Day 20: You've Been Put on Notice

Day 20- You’ve been put on notice

Don’t freak out, but you need to know that people are watching you. Perhaps they’ve seen you taking different leaps of sacrifice during these last 20 days, and they’re paying attention to what happens in your life because of this 21- day journey.

Whether you like it or not, people always have their eyes on Jesus’ followers. When Paul and Silas are in prison, praying and singing songs to God, the Bible tells us that the other prisoners were listening (Acts 16:20).
 
The word “listening” here means listening with focus and leaning in. They weren’t just listening but leaning in to hear the worship that was resounding to heaven. Perhaps you may feel you’re the only one going through a trial, but you are not alone. Again, know this and don’t run from this, but people are watching and listening to how you will respond.
 
Faith and praise touch God, but they will also touch the hearts of the people who hear them. The prisoners probably never heard a sound like this in the prison they heard coming from Paul and Silas- the joyful noises full of adulation lifting to heaven. They decided to take their dire situation from bad circumstances to pomp and circumstances! They had a church service in that prison! Could you imagine the normal sounds that came from that prison? The atmosphere had changed because two men decided not to allow their problems to steal their praise.  
 
Remember that people watch us when we choose to praise God in our storms. And we know it’s not about us- it’s about the one in us. Paul said it like this in Colossians 1:27-– it is Christ IN YOU, the hope of glory. As you finish this time of fasting and prayer, let me encourage you to move forward with hope and expectation that God has heard you- your prayers, your cries, your burdens and be confident that God is working in you, through you, and around you in response to your dedication of calling on Him! I pray that people will take notice and God’s glory will result.
 
Colossians 1:24-27 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—  the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
 
James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,  whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

2 Corinthians 4:7-9 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.