Scripture of the Day:

Acts 16:25

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.”

When Is Your Midnight?

As we started to share yesterday, Paul and Silas had been beaten and thrust into the inner prison with their feet put in stocks, all for preaching the Gospel. But instead of griping and complaining, they lifted their voices together in united prayer and praises to Jesus and to God. Amen!

What about you?

Would you be praying and praising in those circumstances? When it looked in the natural like your life could be over. If not physically, at least freedom wise?

But look at what happened. As Paul and Silas prayed, in united prayer, lifting their voices so loud all the other prisoners could hear them, God brought a mighty deliverance.

Verse 26 says an earthquake shook the very foundations of the prison and all of the prison doors were opened, physically popped off the hinges. But that was not all, every single shackle has been loosed!  That should not have happened because of an earthquake! But it did! Amen!

As I related  yesterday, I found it interesting that there is no historical references of an earthquake destroying anything in that area at that time. None. Not in the Bible and, as far as I have been able to determine, nothing historically either.

But, praise God, that jailhouse was shaken! Amen!

When the prisoners realized what had happened, you would have thought they would have made a run for the hills as quick as possible. Some had probably been their quite a while and probably had lost all hope of ever being free. Here was their chance.

That is what the jailer thought, too. That’s why he was going to kill himself. If he allowed the prisoners to escape, it was on him to suffer their punishment.

But Paul told him to stop because NOBODY had ran away. NONE! Not one person left the prison!  Why?

Because every prisoner in their knew it was from God. They felt the presence of the Holy Spirit and they witnessed the Power of God this Silas and Paul had been talking about. They did not want to leave that presence! Amen! They wanted MORE! Glory to God!

The Jailer knew he had witnessed a miracle. The prisoners knew, too. The results was the entire family of the jailer was saved that very night. And the Philippian church was formed that night, too. With the jailer as the pastor of those inmates. Glory to God.

That is what happens when you cry out to God in prayer and praise in YOUR midnight hour! Amen!

There are a lot of people today just sitting around doing nothing…waiting on God to do something. Something FOR them.

They will say, “Well, if God wants me to get out of this mess, He will just have to do it, I guess…”

But that is not true, not in any sense of the Word. Amen.

If it was true, why did Paul and Silas have to sing, out loud? Why didn’t they just say, “Well, Silas, I guess this is where the Lord wants us at right now. That’s why this happened. So let’s just accept our fate and see what else the Lord can do…”

No, they prayed in one accord and sang praises to God! And notice their situation did not change UNTIL they prayed and sang praises to God! Amen! Did you get that! As a result, God moved! Glory to God!

We need that kind of praying going on today. We need to start shaking things up in this nation and around the world. It is time for the TRUE, born again Christians to take their rightful place, publicly and visible for all to see and start praying and singing praises to God! Amen!

You see, a shaking like that would cause...