Worship Your Way Through It
The following passage of Scripture is critically important for you to understand!
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” – Acts 16:22-28 (NLT).
The BIG IDEA for this devotion is… WORSHIP YOUR WAY THROUGH IT. Why am I saying, “Worship your way through it,” because SOULS are at STAKE! Souls are watching you and your willingness to suffer for the exaltation of God and the Gospel you say, “YOU BELIEVE IN.”
Paul and Silas could have complained. Even questioned, “Where is God?” Yet, despite their circumstances, Paul and Silas chose to pray and sing hymns to God. YES, they were WORSHIPPING in their WOUNDS!
The text goes on to say at verse 25, “That the other prisoners were listening.” Yes, your contentment in suffering serves as a WITNESS TO THE WORLD! The attitude of contentment produces the act of compliance to God’s will, whereby our submission in suffering gives reverence, homage to God. Paul and Silas did not allow what was wrong with them to keep them from worshipping all that is right with God! Simply put, true worship is NEVER about OUR FEELINGS, but always FOCUSES on the EXALTATION OF GOD & HIS PLANS!
