February 26: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
♫ Music:
Day 13 - Monday, February 26
Title: BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
Scripture #1: Romans 10:10 (NKJV)
For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Scripture #2: Acts 16:25-34 (NKJV)
But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.” Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.
Poetry & Poet:
“Prisoners”
by Denise Levertov
Though the road turn at last
to death’s ordinary door,
and we knock there, ready
to enter and it opens
easily for us,
yet
all the long journey
we shall have gone in chains,
fed on knowledge-apples
acrid and riddled with grubs.
We taste other food that life,
like a charitable farm-girl,
holds out to us as we pass—
but our mouths are puckered,
a taint of ash on the tongue.
It’s not joy that we’ve lost—
wildfire, it flares
in dark or shine as it will.
What’s gone
is common happiness,
plain bread we could eat
with the old apple of knowledge.
That old one—it griped us sometimes,
but it was firm, tart,
sometimes delectable ...
The ashen apple of these days
grew from poisoned soil. We are prisoners
and must eat
our ration. All the long road
in chains, even if, after all,
we come to
death’s ordinary door, with time
smiling its ordinary
long-ago smile.
BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
When I saw the prompts for the Lent Project this year, I initially chose this one because of the Philippian jailer and his whole household becoming Christians all together––I once saw an almost identical event occur up in an Athabascan village in the Arctic Circle. It was hour three of a long service in the smoky log church, when a man jumped up suddenly and left, only to return twenty minutes later with his whole family in tow. They knelt up front by the altar, and we all sang and prayed as the visiting evangelist and the elders led them to Jesus. It was glorious, and I thought, “I’m in the book of Acts!”
However, after that initial choice, as I soaked in the text, art, and music of this Lenten day, something else became so precious and predominant to me––the hymns! Paul and Silas were singing hymns to God there in jail. They were singing!
The church sings. We sing because we know the greater reality, the invisible reality that marches alongside the visible reality.
Paul and Silas, confined by their very real physical circumstances, were singing to express a truer, deeper reality. Singing unites us in our being––we are led by our physical bodies in this activity that unites mind, heart, spirit, and soul. And the beauty of music––its harmony and structure, comforts us and reassures us of the greater reality beyond our circumstances. It instills hope. Listen to the hope in “Now is the Day of Salvation”!
We sing defiantly, refusing to be defined by the events of this fallen world. We know, by faith, that this seen circumstance is not all that exists, and so we sing to proclaim and to claim the bigger truth––Jesus is Lord, right here and right now, no matter what. In this case, singing was evangelism, and a whole family was brought into the Kingdom.
Notice the progression––singing and proclamation of the Word, and then the sacrament of baptism! The Church grew.
The saints sing because that is what is in our hearts, and therefore that’s what comes out when our hearts are pressed upon. Instead of cursing and complaining, Paul and Silas sang because they were filled with the Spirit.
To the listening jailer and family and other prisoners, the gospel in song was persuasive due to its setting. I’ve talked to folks who work in jails––believe me, prisoners singing hymns is not the typical behavior.
Paul and Silas were also tuning up for what they expected to soon be doing post-death. Music is the discourse of heaven. Singing praises to God is one of the times here when we join the larger Church through the ages, when we join our loved-ones who have gone before us into heaven––when we sing, we join their song of worship to the Lamb who is worthy.
We sing to be like Jesus, who sang while He was here on earth (Matthew 26:30). In fact, God has given us a whole songbook––the book of Psalms has a prayer and song for every occasion and emotion. And so, we express our hearts to the listening God who instructs us to “pour out your hearts, oh people!” (Psalm 62:8)
Singing is relational: we sing to Him, and we sing with others, saints on earth and saints in heaven. There are songs of joy and songs of sorrow. Humans sing. And so does creation: the morning stars all sing together, angels sing, trees of the fields clap along for joy at the presence of the Creator in his world. Matter of fact, if we neglect to sing, the very rocks will cry out!
An appropriate response to Almighty God, is song.
We read here about the jailer’s journey out of the chains that held him: he went from trembling despair and suicidality to belief and rejoicing. This is the glorious narrative of this passage. The song in the night awakened souls. These songs led to life, belief, and freedom of soul.
It makes you wonder who the true prisoners were in this story, after all. Not Paul and Silas, apparently.
So where does this leave us? We are still here, not there. We are embodied, still trapped in time and space, not yet Home. But we who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and who have been freed from prison into this household of salvation, can now join the song of the saints already on the other side of the door presented to us by Levertov’s poem. Although imprisoned still in mortality (we have indeed eaten the rations of prisoners), we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit as Christ’s own (and now He feeds us with His own self), and our spirits are joined with His Spirit and we have been set free (and we are destined for the banqueting table of our God).
How can we not sing? Hallelujah!
Prayer
“O gracious Light, pure brightness of the ever-living Father in heaven, O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed! Now as we come to the setting of the sun and our eyes behold the vesper light, we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices, O Son of God, O Giver of life, and to be glorified through all the worlds.
Amen.”
–––Phos Hilarion, A Prayer of Light
(Earliest known hymn of the Church, still used in liturgy today)
Dr. Betsy Barber
Associate Director of the Institute for Spiritual Formation
Associate Professor of Spiritual Formation and Psychology
Talbot School of Theology
Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
Abot the Art:
Paul and Silas Praying in Prison
Frank Murphy
2010
Oil on canvas
52 x 36 in.
First Baptist Church of Dalton
Dalton, Georgia
In spite of being beaten and imprisoned, Paul and Silas maintained their focus on praying and singing hymns of praise to God, ultimately resulting in the prison being rocked by an earthquake, the chains of the prisoners being loosened, and the prison gates opening. Joy in the midst of persecution and suffering is one of the central themes in the book of Acts. Paul and Silas’ response of looking past temporal circumstances is the same as that we see from the other apostles and martyrs of the faith when they experience mistreatment and persecution. How we face difficult circumstances in our lives has an impact on the world around us and shows that we can be people who have faith and trust in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to see us through.
About the Artist:
Frank Murphy is an American artist and sculptor. He attended the University of Montevallo in Alabama, where he began his studies as an art major, but later changed his major to physical education. After a period of serving in full-time ministry with students, Murphy returned to school at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he earned a M.Div. in Christian education. Afterwards, he accepted the position of minister to students at First Baptist Church in Rome, Georgia, where he has lived ever since. Though serving as pastor, Murphy continued his interest in art with hopes that his work would one day bring new light to familiar biblical narratives. Inspired by old master artists like Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Velasquez, and Tintoretto, he is fond of using chiaroscuro—the use of strong contrasts between light and dark—to express his vision. He continues to serve in a student ministry capacity on a part-time basis as Baptist Campus Minister of Berry College and Georgia Highlands College.
https://www.frankmurphyfineart.com/
https://readv3.com/2019/12/frank-murphy-marble-hero/
About the Music:
“Now Is the Day of Salvation” from the album Wandering Strange
Lyrics:
Now is the day of salvation.
Now is the time to be set free.
And it's yours for the taking,
The moment you believe.
Now is the day of salvation.
Now is the time to be set free.
And there is no condemnation,
The moment you believe.
Like the man on the cross next to Jesus.
Who had lived a life of crime.
It wasn't too late for forgiveness.
Jesus promised he'd wake up in paradise.
Now is the day of salvation.
Now is the time to be set free.
And it's yours for the taking,
The moment you believe
Paul and Silas were singing,
In prison when at midnight
The doors opened wide.
The jailer asked what must I do to be saved,
They said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now is the day of salvation.
Now is the time to be set free.
And it's yours for the taking,
The moment you believe.
Now is the day of salvation.
Now is the time to be set free.
And there is no condemnation,
The moment you believe. (3x)
About the Composer:
Dewey Lindon Oldham Jr., also known as "Spooner Oldham" (b. 1943), is an American songwriter and session musician. An organist, he has recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, at FAME Studios as part of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section on such hit R&B songs as Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman," Wilson Pickett's "Mustang Sally," and Aretha Franklin's "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)." As a songwriter, Oldham teamed with Dan Penn to write such hits as "Cry Like a Baby" (Box Tops), "I'm Your Puppet" (James and Bobby Purify), "A Woman Left Lonely," and "It Tears Me Up" (Percy Sledge). Oldham was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009 as a sideman.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spooner_Oldham
About the Performer:
Kate Campbell, daughter of a Baptist preacher, is an American singer-songwriter who writes and sings folk songs infused with undercurrents of delta blues, folk, pop, and country. Over the course of twenty-plus years since her acclaimed debut album Songs from the Levee, she has resisted the temptation to follow musical trends and instead chooses to set the pace for her unique musical journey. Campbell’s endearing, clear-water vocal delivery and her eloquent gift for storytelling have drawn repeated comparisons to Southern literary traditionalists such as Flannery O’Connor, Eudora Welty, and William Faulkner. Campbell’s formative years were spent at the very core of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. She has performed at a number of esteemed venues such as the Cambridge Folk Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival, Port Fairy Folk Festival, and the National Storytelling Festival, and has been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Live from Mountain Stage, and The Bob Edwards Show.
http://www.katecampbell.com/
About the Poetry and Poet:
Denise Levertov (1923–1997) was educated entirely at home and claimed to have decided to become a writer at the age of five. When she was twelve, she sent some of her poetry to T. S. Eliot, who responded by encouraging her to continue writing. At age seventeen, she had her first poem published in Poetry Quarterly. Her poems of the 1950s won her widespread recognition and her book With Eyes at the Back of Our Heads (1959) established her as one of the great American poets. Levertov went on to publish more than twenty volumes of poetry, and was also the author of four books of prose. Levertov’s conversion to Christianity in 1984 was the impetus for her religious poetry. In 1997, she brought together thirty-eight poems from seven of her earlier volumes in The Stream & the Sapphire, a collection intended, as Levertov explains in the foreword to the collection, to "trace my slow movement from agnosticism to Christian faith, a movement incorporating much doubt and questioning as well as affirmation."
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/denise-levertov
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denise_Levertov
About the Devotion Writer:
Dr. Betsy Barber
Associate Director of the Institute for Spiritual Formation
Associate Professor of Spiritual Formation and Psychology
Talbot School of Theology
Biola University
Betsy Barber has a clinical practice with specialization in the soul care and mental health of Christian workers. She teaches courses in spiritual formation, soul care, missions, maturity, and marital relationships. She has particular interest in spiritual formation and supervision of students in spiritual direction and mentoring. She worked with her husband as a missionary in Bible translation and counseling ministries for twenty-four years. In addition to being a licensed clinical psychologist, she has background and training in spiritual direction.