Acts 16:25-30
King James Version (KJV)
25And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. 26And 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 loosed. 27And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. 28But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. 29Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, 30And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
When you examine this scripture you can see two men who were locked up in prison. They were not just locked up though… They were beaten first and then locked up. They had to have some pain and discomfort. However, Paul and Silas did not let their situation keep them from prayer and praising God.
When you are up against the wall and nowhere to turn, turn to prayer and praise. After all, what more could you do? Anyone can complain and cry out! Turn that crying into joy. Take the opportunity to pray and praise. When you do this there will be a light that you will see. People want to be around people who persevere. I don’t know about you, but, I don’t want to be around depressive people. Depressive people always pull you down. People that are in constant praise and worship always show the light. I want to be around people who demonstrate what light looks like.
Look further at this scripture… It says the guard (keeper) of the prison was awakened and saw the prison doors open and that he was going to kill himself. But Paul called out and said don’t hurt yourself we are all here. This next verse is what becomes powerful. The guard calls for a light! When you pray and praise God will shine His light on your situation. It will cause others to want to know how to be saved. It will cause others to ask what is different about you. It will cause others to view you differently. So let prayer and praise come out of your mouth! It will change people’s ideas about you. Choose to not talk about your problem. Choose to rejoice that your problem will be answered when you pray and praise. After all, prayer and praise unlocked the prison doors for Paul and Silas how much more will prayer and praise work for you.
Praise will bring the light!
Scripture Study: Psalm 33:1-12
Be Blessed!
Pastor Philip's Blog 
Great post! 🙂 Simple and to the point. The church (at least in Western Culture) appears to have lost, to some extent, the theology of suffering and I think the result is the church has also lost a lot of its joy. Sounds odd, I know, but it’s very true. For as the church suffers it leans more on Christ, is purified by its trials, and in doing so finds true joy in seeing His faithfulness come to fruition. Thank you, for posting. 🙂
Greetings Pastor Phil…. I cant remember seeing it like this before… they called for “light”….. the jailor said “what shall I do to be saved?”… Its amazing how one can read one thing yet see another dimension… I guess I like many others read this story and subconsciously link the praise to the freeing of the apostles… How we get set in our thinking ruts….? but many thanks for sharing light!
Paul .