‘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 loose’ (Acts 16:25-26).
There is no record of Jesus teaching the Apostles how to preach,
but He definitely taught them how to pray, both practically and
theoretically. Unquestionably their lessons on prayer paid off in the
first century of the church and it’s still paying off today. H. Mac
Gregor said, "I would rather train twenty men to pray, than a
thousand to preach; a minister's highest mission ought to be to teach his
people to pray." We live to pray and we pray to live. ‘Prayer is not so
much an act as it is an attitude—an attitude of dependency, dependency upon
God’ (Arthur W. Pink).
The sixteenth chapter of the Book of Acts gives an
attention-grabbing account of Paul and Silas’ life and ministry. For preaching
the gospel and delivering a demon possessed slave girl who was a fortune
teller, the masters of the slave girl who were the main benefactors of her
trade managed to get Paul and Silas some severe beatings and a room in a
maximum security prison. For no fault of theirs, but for obedience to the great
commission, these righteous men were in chains in a maximum security prison.
This lesson focuses on their actions in that prison, that preceded their ground
shaking and chain breaking deliverance.
To begin with, Paul and Silas were righteous people. Jesus once
told the gentile woman who needed Him to pray for her daughter that, ‘It is not
right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs’ (Mat
15:26). Jesus meant, the gentile who was basically a sinner did not
qualify for a miracle. It is said that, the only prayer of the sinner that God
listen’s to, is the prayer of repentance. So James 5:16 says, ‘the earnest
prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results’.
Righteousness is the first key to experiencing God’s power’.
Secondly, Paul and Silas praised God regardless of their
imprisonment, pain and grief. Instead of complaining to God for being flogged
and imprisoned for doing His work, they praised Him in their midnight hour.
Those that learn to praise God in bad times, experience chain breaking and
ground shaking miracles. Anyone can praise God when things are going well, but
it takes a person of understanding and faith to offer a sacrifice of praise –
that which is flowing from a heart of gratitude regardless of the present
hardships. A sacrifice of praise moves heaven, God has no choice but to tap His
feet to it. When God taps His feet in heaven, there is surely a manifestation
on earth in the form of an earthquake that shakes the foundations of the
enemy’s prison and breaks his chains and doors.
Finally, Paul and Silas prayed. They understood the mystery of
prayer – that, anything God will do, prayer can do. That, until one invites God
into their circumstance through prayer, God will not bypass their dominion to
operate on earth. Today, God is waiting for you to invite Him to intervene, by
simply asking Him in faith. His word is, ‘until now you have not asked for
anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete’
(John 16:25).
As Paul and Silas prayed, suddenly they received their
deliverance. Through their righteousness, praise and prayer, they experienced
the power and salvation of the Lord, together with the other inmates and prison
officials. May the Lord grant you the grace to hold onto your purity,
regardless of your seemingly hopeless situation. May He grant you the strength
to sing, even though the strength to speak might even be gone. Finally, may the
Holy Spirit empower you to lift up your eyes unto the Lord in prayer. ‘I have
been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had
absolutely no other place to go’ (Abraham Lincoln)
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