PRAYING AND PRAISING GOD CAN CHANGE THINGS

Proclamation:

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.  Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken.  At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.”  Acts 16:25-26 (NIV)

Explanation:

Paul went to Macedonia in response to a vision he had. (Acts 16:9-10)  There he met Lydia, a wealthy woman who worshiped God.  He baptized her, and he and Silas stayed at her house. (Acts 16:13-15)  One day, on their way to the place of prayer, they met a female salve who had a spirit within her by which she predicted the future.  Her owners earned a great deal of money from her fortune-telling.  For many days she followed them around shouting, “These men are servants of The most High God …” and annoyed Paul so that he called the spirit out of her. (Acts 16:16-18)  This upset her owners who lost their hope of making more money through her.  So they had Paul and Silas arrested.  Because of the charges which they brought against them, they were stripped, beaten, severely flogged, thrown into prison and put in the stocks. (Acts 16:19-24)  While in prison the prayed and praised God and suddenly their chains fell off and the prison doors flew open.  They did not leave the prison and after the jailer saw what had happened, he led them out of the prison and brought them to his house. (Acts 16:27- 34)

Application:

We are encouraged to always pray (Luke 18:1) and His praise should always be on our lips. (Psalm 34:1)  However, when things have gone from bad to worse, and life has gotten us down, and it seems that there is no way out, it is hard to be positive.  That is the time when we should pray and praise The Lord anyhow.  The Lord God can make a way out of no way.  It takes some pretty strong faith to praise Him when things are not going the way that we had planned and are much worse than we ever expected.  Remember, we cannot have a testimony without first going through a test.  Trust in The Lord.