Free At Last

Free at Last

When you’re having a rough day, what do you do to turn things around? Go for a walk? Catch a movie? Grab a spoon and a pint of ice cream? Or maybe, like Paul and Silas, you’ve discovered the power of lifting your voice to God. Once, after being severely beaten, these early missionaries had a midnight hymn-sing in jail that really brought down the house. Acts 16 says an earthquake shook the very foundations of the prison. Doors flew open. Chains fell loose. Woo-hoo, freedom! Can’t you just picture Paul and Silas praising God while making a run for it? The weird part is, they didn’t flee.

Awakened by the earthquake, the jailer noticed the doors were wide open. He feared that the prisoners had escaped, and he was about to take his own life when Paul called out, “Don’t kill yourself! We are all here!” (v. 28). Next thing Paul and Silas knew, the jailer was asking to be saved. And before dawn, his entire family received Christ! Were prisoners freed that night? You bet. Spiritual prisoners.

It’s interesting that Acts 16:25 says Paul and Silas were also praying while they were singing. Though the Bible doesn’t tell us the nature of those prayers, it’s safe to assume they were not along the lines of “Dear God, please deliver us from this crummy situation.” Rather, their response suggests that they may have been praying for an opportunity to share God’s Good News. They didn’t run; instead they viewed this miracle as God’s way of creating an opportunity.

Paul and Silas knew freedom isn’t about roaming around outside a jail cell as opposed to being locked up in one. Real freedom comes from being secure in Jesus Christ (see John 8:36). Are you truly free? If so, next time you have a rough day, try singing and praying. Who knows, God may take your eyes off your own problems and, like Paul and Silas, use you to meet someone else’s needs.

Daddy-Daughter Time

If you were Paul or Silas, would you have been tempted to escape? What might have happened had they not been so committed to prison ministry? You can get involved in prison ministry right now. Prison Fellowship reaches out to inmates and their families. You can find out more together by going to prisonfellowship.org. You can pray for prisoners or even buy gifts for kids who have a parent in prison through its Angel Tree ministry during Christmastime.

What’s The Word?

Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations.   Acts 16:25-26