PRAISE YE THE LORD. (Part 14)
Acts 16. Verses 25-28 read:
And at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly, there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
The potency of praise can not be downplayed. It is an effective weapon in dealing with the activities of the enemy. At Philipi, Paul cast out the spirit of divination out of a girl whose operations had bewitched the city and brought much gain to her master. The matter was brought before the city authorities, and Paul and Silas were beaten and eventually put in jail under strict guard. It is the enemy’s desire that he will keep believers who are effective in their service at bay.
According to today’s text, at midnight, which is spiritually symbolic of the time of heightened satanic activities, Paul and Silas deployed the counter weapons of prayer and praise to the hearing of other prisoners in the jail. In the moments of physical agony and denial of freedom, it is worth activating the spiritual forces of conquest, key among which are prayer and praise. These are precisely what Paul and Silas deployed.
The result of their praise was evident in the prison. Suddenly, there was a great earthquake, which shook the foundations of the prison and unlocked all the securely locked doors and gates. The bands of the prisoners were loosed. God inhabited the praise of his people. As a result, freedom or liberty were inevitable. On seeing the doors open, the jailer took a sword about to kill himself, judging himself as having failed in taking care of the prisoners. Paul intervened to keep him from self destruction and got him to surrender to Christ.
In the moments of heavy demonic presence and attacks, let us remember to deploy the potent spiritual weapons of prayer and praise. They pave way for God’s intervention into our unpleasant situations. In this process, the holds and restrictions of the enemy are broken, the people of God are set free, observers behold the wonders of the Lord and they turn to him for salvation. This is what praise is capable of doing when it is deployed.
SHALOM 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏