Praise and Prison

"About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them." Acts 16:25

One of the commercials that I remember as a child is the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup commercial where two people accidentally bump into each other. One has chocolate and one has peanut butter and surprise - they find two great tastes that go great together. I submit to you that they are right, I love Reese's and yes chocolate & peanut butter are excellent together. In the book of Act's we find two things that shouldn't go together - praise and prison. Now praise is an incredible thing but prison, not so good.

In Acts 16 we find Paul and Silas in prison (verse 24). They are locked up, not for some great crime, but for sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We find them not merely locked up but the are chained up within the prison as well. Now for most of us we would be absolutely miserable. We would be crying out for release, justice, freedom. Our minds would be spinning thinking about what we were going to do. There is a good chance we would stir up the other prisoners with our complaints and cries for justice. Yet this is the furthest things from Paul and Silas.

Paul and Silas are chained up, in prison, singing and praising God. What? Yes, they are singing and praising God, finding joy in their imprisonment for the Gospel. They find that these two things, prison and praise, indeed go together for the glory of God. Their counter-cultural act causes not only the other prisoners to hear the gospel, but in the end the jailer and his entire family are saved. Why? Because instead of complaining about their condition and situation, they praised the LORD.

Today what is the situation you are facing? Have you ever considered praising God through the storms of life? Paul and Silas could have thrown a fit. They were Roman citizens and they were wrongly treated, yet they chose to pray & praise the LORD in the storm. Because of this others came to know just how great the LORD Christ Jesus truly is. Today I pray that we indeed bring Him praise, not only on the mountain tops, but even in the valleys as well. Believe me, suffering and praise are two things that go great together for His glory for it points to Him and where our faith & hope are in the storm!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Act Like Men

Image
MAN UP Part 3 of 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 Why are there so few men left in the world?  As a culture the growth from boyhood to manhood has taken a detour through the maze of adolescence; adolescence (as a word or descriptive phrase) was not even heard of or used in the development of children until the twentieth century and at that time was used to describe a child between the ages of 13 and 19, presumably the age of one in high school.  Today, in stark contrast, some argue adolescence starts at the age of 10 and may not stop until the age of 24 or older.  Even more shocking is that today more women are in colleges then men and boys are staying longer and longer in an adolescent state and fewer men are emerging.  Perhaps today more than ever Christian young men need to be reminded to act like men, not boys, and certainly not adolescents, but men. Paul called out the men in church of Corinth and said ACT LIKE MEN.  The understanding of the word here is not merely in th
Read more

Be Watchful

Image
BE WATCHFUL I believe that Christ gives us tangible means through His word in which we are to walk in Him.  Over the next 5 days I am going to try and unravel 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 because I do believe it is a powerful verse in the life of the believer.  It is one that gives us direction, instruction, and truly sets a course for our lives.  It is practical theology that we can grab ahold of.  It is applicable to our lives on daily basis.  It is tangible and livable. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 16:13-14."Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.  Let all that you do be done in love."  As Christians, especially Christian men, we are to: Be Watchful Stand Firm In The Faith Act Like Men Be Strong  Let All You Do Be Done In Love Lets look closely at this verse and start with the beginning – Paul tells the church in Corinth to “Be watchful”.  What does that mean? Let’s start with the word “Be”.  Th
Read more

Would anyone care?

Image
WOULD ANYONE CARE? I have been reading through Darrin Patrick and Matt Carters book "For the City".  It has been challenging and convicting to me as a pastor and leader.  The question that has weighed on me most heavily as I have read this is, "If FBC Seminole shut it's doors, would anyone in Seminole know we were gone and would they even care?"  This question was posed in chapter one by Matt Carter in regards to his own church in Austin Texas.  Stop for a minute and ask yourself this question.  Would anyone care if your church shut their doors for good, would they even notice?  The answer is haunting and sad because for many of our churches the answer is that they wouldn't. Why is this happening?  For many churches their concern is not the community around them and reaching them with the gospel but instead it is focused on programs, finances, and numbers.  Nothing, by the way, is inherently wrong with these things but instead of these being seco
Read more