The Power of praise

Acts 16:16-40 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” ¹⁸ She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very moment.

¹⁹ But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities, ²⁰ and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, ²¹ and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.”

²² The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. ²³ When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; ²⁴ and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

²⁵ But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; ²⁶ and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. ²⁷ When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!” ²⁹ And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, ³⁰ and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹ They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” ³² And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. ³³ And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. ³⁴ And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.

³⁵ Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, “Release those men.” ³⁶ And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore come out now and go in peace.” ³⁷ But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.” ³⁸ The policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, ³⁹ and they came and appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept begging them to leave the city. ⁴⁰ They went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.

In today’s text Paul and Silas had been beaten and imprisoned. It says:  But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!” And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”    Psalm 22:3 But you are holy, O you that inhabit the praises of Israel.   Praise brings the presence of the Lord. In Matthew 18:20 Jesus says:   "For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst."     Rather than complain about their circumstance to God, Paul and Silas praised God in their circumstance.  At the beginning of His ministry, Luke 4:18 Jesus said:    “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed.”      Jesus did show up when they gathered in His name and praised Him. He did indeed release those who were captive and set free those who were oppressed.

There is power in praise just as there is power in prayer. Praise changes the atmosphere because God inhabits our praise. Things are different in the presence of God. There is another change that takes place when we praise God, particularly when we praise Him, as Paul and Silas did, in difficult circumstances. When we choose to praise God not for our problems but in our problems, we change our focus. Rather than being focused on the problem, we focus on God. In Isaiah 6:3, when the prophet saw into heaven, he saw and heard the seraphim praising God, saying:  “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”   When we praise God in our difficult circumstances, we see into the heavenly realm. From there we see as the seraphim saw, that the whole earth is filled with the glory of God. God’s glory is not just in heaven, but the whole earth is full of His glory. When we focus on our problems we lose sight of the glory of God. Indeed when we ask, God will help us and change our circumstance and situation, according to His will. But, the first and most important thing that changes is us, our heart and our perspective. We begin to see the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray: Your kingdom come, Your will be don, on earth as it is in heaven, answered for us, in us and through us.

The result of the praise of Paul and Silas in their difficult circumstance was more than just freedom for themselves. The text says:    When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!” And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house.    Romans 8:28-29 says:  We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.    It wasn’t God who caused Paul and Silas to be beaten and locked up. But when they praised God not for their circumstance but in it, God was then able to use that difficult  circumstance for good. It was not only for the good of Paul and Silas, but also for the good of the jailer and his household, for the good of those others who were also known and called by God.  Paul and Silas became conformed to the image of Christ. By praising Him, focusing on Him rather than their circumstance, they became like Him. It became true of them also, what Jesus said of Himself:      The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed.     We too, like Paul and Silas are called to be those who preach the gospel, proclaim release to captives, recovery of sight to the blind and set free the oppressed. Many times it begins as we focus on God and praise Him in our circumstance, as we allow Him to use the difficult things in our lives for good, for His glory, others are set free and we become more like Christ.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit I will praise You not just for what You have done, but because of who You are. In good times or in bad times You are worthy of praise. May I always set my eyes on You and not the circumstances of the world. May I see from heaven’s perspective, that the whole earth is filled with Your glory. May I, like You Jesus say:  The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed.        Amen.