Around
Midnight Paul and Silas
Were
Praying And Singing Hymns To God,
And
The Other Prisoners Were Listening.
Scripture
Acts
16
22 A mob
quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered
them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. 23 They were
severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer
was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape. 24 So the
jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the
stocks.
25 Around
midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and
the other prisoners were listening.26 Suddenly, there was a
massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All
the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner
fell off! 27 The jailer woke up to see the prison doors
wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword
to kill himself. 28 But Paul shouted to him, “Stop! Don’t
kill yourself! We are all here!”
29 The
jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down
trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them
out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They
replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along
with everyone in your household.” 32 And they shared the
word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household.
33 Even at
that hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their
wounds. Then he and everyone in his household were immediately
baptized. 34 He brought them into his house and set a meal
before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they
all believed in God.
Observation
Stripped,
severely beaten with rods, thrown into the inner most part of the
dungeon, with their feet placed in stocks, Paul and Silas began to
pray and sing hymns to God. It was around midnight and all the other
prisoners were listening to Paul and Silas, listening to them sing
and pray.
Yes,
that is truly incredible … but the story gets even better.
At
around midnight during this prayer meeting God sent an earthquake
that caused all the doors in the dungeon to fly open and the chains
on every prisoner to fall off.
You
would have thought that all the prisoners would have fled and that is
what the jailer thought when he was awakened by the earthquake and
saw the prison doors swinging wide open, but not one prisoner tried
to escape.
The
jailer called for lights and then he ran and fell down trembling
before Paul and Silas and said to them, “Sirs, what must I do to be
saved?” And their answer was, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you
will be saved, along with everyone in your household.”
Here
is one lesson from this story: God will allow His children to go
through hardship and suffering just so someone else has the
opportunity to see Jesus in us. God didn't send the earthquake to
free Paul and Silas. He sent an earthquake, along with the powerful
witness of Paul and Silas, to set the jailer free!
Application
I
will strive to look at my circumstances from God's perspective. I am
His child. Nothing comes into my life, nothing touches me, that He
does not allow.
Prayer
Heavenly
Father, give me the ability to see Your Hand at work in my life even
during the darkest times. I know that I am Your child. I have been
bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Nothing, absolutely
nothing, touches my life without Your okay. Use my life to help
someone else come to faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
I
pray for those who are sick today. Give them strength and heal them.
Daily
Bible Reading: Leviticus 10,11,12; Acts 16
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