July 31

---

And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made… Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us. Acts 16:13,16

---

🔊 The contrast in these verses is between a beautiful place of quiet calm where the apostles prayed, and the evil confusion in the mind of the girl. This was the beginning of an attack by Satan on the apostles, which ended in cruel beatings and imprisonment, followed by God’s direct intervention. These events show us where the cutting edge of conflict in our lives will be located. Satan is the enemy of those who discover the place of quietness in prayer. Such a place is powerful beyond description, and is the source of all that God does, since it is found in the depths of His own Being. It is in that place that peace reigns – the peace of knowing that God is over all, and that all things are subject to His will. Our challenge is to find that place and to drink deeply of its peace until we come to total rest before God’s throne. That is the source of the faith that makes crooked things straight and rough places smooth; faith that takes authority over Satan and brings God’s order to lives and circumstances. It is no surprise that the devil opposes the quiet of God’s Presence in us. In that quietness we hear the truth that contradicts all the evil and misery caused by Satan. Dwell in quietness with God, and treasure that quiet place. Don’t be surprised when things come along to disturb and challenge that place. Stand fast, and realise that this is the cutting edge of spiritual warfare.