Have you ever felt like you were in a circumstance with no way out? Maybe it’s a financial situation, a relational divide or a physical ailment…I think we can all relate to one of those at some point, & sometimes they can feel prison-like.
That’s where I find Paul in Acts 16 today, falsely accused, stripped, beaten with wooden rods & tossed into prison. Not only that, he’s placed in the inner dungeon with shackles on his feet. Talk about no way of escape!😳
What comes next feels like a formula for when we feel stuck. Verse 25 tells us that around midnight, while Paul prays & sings hymns to God, the other prisoners listen.
Let’s pause for a sec…he’s placed in the INNER dungeon-was this a strategic placement by God SO THAT all the other prisoners would hear him worship in the wait? 🤷🏻♀️
Suddenly, there’s a MASSIVE earthquake (Bible’s adjective, not mine) & the prison is shaken to its very foundation! ALL prison doors fling wide & the chains of EVERY prisoner fall!
As if that’s not enough, when the jailer sees what’s transpired, he falls down & cries, “What must I do to be saved?”
Are y’all seeing what I’m seeing?
👉🏽When we’re in prison-like circumstances, we never know who might be listening to our response!
👉🏽Choosing to worship in the wait just might ignite a MASSIVE spiritual earthquake that shakes whatever is imprisoning us to its very foundation!
👉🏽That shaking not only frees us, but has the capacity to free others, causing ALL doors to open & ALL chains to fall!
👉🏽Offering a sacrifice of praise in the midst of prison JUST MIGHT SET OUR CAPTORS FREE!
I mean, come on! If that’s not a compelling case to praise The Father regardless of what we face, then I don’t know what is!
Father, I don’t know why you allow moments that feel like we’ve got shackles on our feet, because it’s definitely not fun! Yet we don’t want to miss out on the freedom that falls along with prison chains when we choose to praise You amidst the prison! We might not ever know WHY hard things happen, but what we DO know for fact is that your faithfulness endures forever! May our worship in the wait create a MASSIVE spiritual quake that brings freedom to all within earshot!
2 KINGS 8:1-9:13
ACTS 16:16-40
PSALM 143:1-12
PROVERBS 17:26
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