Singers Unto Jesus

Acts 16:22-35, 37

The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods.

Following Jesus came with a price. Maybe God has called you to do something you do not understand. Maybe you are in a place you do not like for a price you are unwilling to pay. I do not know about you, but this does not sound like an experience I want repeated anytime soon. If following Jesus is like this, when there is no other choice but to go on and go forward when you cannot go back, then maybe it is not worth it. The price for everyone is different. In this situation it was such for the deliverance of the demon provoked girl. Maybe she was not worth the beating that followed. However, serving God is always worth it.

After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

You might laugh when I say this, but God will command your jailer to turn into your rescue. He will command your situation to set you free. Like Elijah in 1 Kings 17:7-9 set beside the brook all by himself with nothing but the widow and the ravens to feed him, God always provides. Man commanded the apostles to be bound, but God turned that thing around. Man put them in the inner cell and with their feet in the stocks. There, they had nobody but Jesus and their jailer in their face. The apostles' response is powerful. They could have attacked the jailer at any time. How many of you know that when you are all by yourself with no one by you, God stands with you. They could not see the other prisoners, the jailer, or the outside world. The apostles could only feel the Lord. That, my friends, is worth all the world for when you have not got anyone, God still loves you. When you have not got anything, God still has you. When people could not, God will do it for you. Your prison is the doorway to something greater. Look at this situation here. The apostles were set in prison in the afternoon. Their jailor stepped out for supper while they had none. In man's absence and the apostles' lack, they had the very presence of God fall on them. See the manifestation of the Spirit.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

Here the apostles are singing praises in a hopeless situation. Suddenly, the place is shaking like something is about to happen. I come to tell you, when you have no one to love you, God will. If he does not do so personally, he will send someone to love on you for him. When the devil come against you for speaking the Word of the Lord and deliverance over a situation, when he has stolen all and left you for dead, when he has come and gone and left you with nothing, there is always God's favor on your life. There is always home in the Father's house. There is always a seat at the table, a role to take up, and a crown waiting for all you have done. You will not be wanting in the house of the Lord. You will not be hungry in the house of the Lord. He will either call the ravens, send the widow, do it himself, or command the jailer to turn that thing around and make it right. Notice that the jailor not only made it right to them privately but also publicly for all they had suffered in Jesus' name. As he did with Elijah and the apostles, God will command your situation to feed you.

I can hear the other prisoners saying, 'these fools are crazy.' Do you not also believe the apostles to be more than a little mad. God will use you in the situation to turn it around for other people before you have even gotten out of it. The apostles have not even left the building; yet, they have the prisoners listening. The whole building was silent. You are responsible for what you put your mouth on. If the apostles had any other reaction towards the jailer, like any other prisoner would have done, they would not have their testimony or their witness for Christ still with them. They could have attacked that jailer, his family, or anything they wanted in that city because they had the Spirit of God with them. Notice the spirit of self-control upon them rather than that of burning the place down.

Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone's chains came loose.

God responded to his spirit and commanded the situation to free them. Everyone's chains came loose. The other prisoners listened, responded, and sang along in their heart to the Lord. There is power in the worship. God inhabits the praises of his children according to Psalm 22:3. Notice they sang as unto the Lord even locked up in prison without a release date. The situation could not block their praise.

The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped.

The jailer woke up and saw he had failed in his duties to keep these two soul singers in bondage. Because of what happened, he turned to kill himself, but God had a hand on him too. See had he done this, the blame would have been on the prisoners again for escaping and killing their jailor. Thus, the devil would have prevented them from ever getting out of their situation. God will work this thing so that when he sets you free you are free indeed according to John 8:36. The situation will not return because of the power of God. When he says that is enough, nothing else will happen.

But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!" The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household."

The whole house was saved by the power of God. The situation was no more. I would like to think the other prisoners were prisoners no more after God set them free. Notice, they were still locked up in name only, but part of the household. God will work this thing when he makes you free so that you are free indeed.

At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household. When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: "Release those men."

Here is how to hold a baptism, a spiritual worship service, and a physical anointing all in one. The jailer took them into the shower to get them washed up, and immediately he was baptized. Not only that but everyone else who went to get washed up too got baptized also. I can hear it now, the jailer and their house saying one thing and the apostles saying the words for their baptism. You can be so anointed even in the beating that everyone who encounters you will not ever be the same again. It is because of the power of God within you. Everybody is freed because of the obedience of these two men. Everyone in the city recognized the power of God. Imagine showing up the next day in court and there is no one there. No judges, no police officers, nobody, just a note on the door saying everyone is free to go. The people are mad because God set one person free. Look now at how God set everybody free. I will not go into the reasons why the people did not want that girl to be delivered. However, by the power of God and the name of Jesus, her deliverance allowed even the prisoners to walk free. Is not God amazing.

But Paul said to the officers: "They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out."

Look at Paul's tenacity. These officials are mad over one girl getting delivered. Let them see for themselves the rest of the prisoners also freed. No blame came upon the jailer who was only doing what he was told after the city leaders saw that the prisoners had also been freed. Everyone who knew the situation believed in the power of God or at least witnessed it undeniably for themselves.