Played: 28 | Download | Duration: 00:02:34

Faith’s Impact!

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

Being locked up in a Roman prison was no pushover. Offenders were stripped, flogged and placed in leg irons. Their blood-soaked clothing wasn't even changed in the dead of winter! And the 'inner cells' (v.24) where Paul and Silas were imprisoned were the worst. Lack of water, cramped conditions, and the stench of toilets (if that's what you could call them), made sleep impossible and waking miserable. Prisoners there routinely begged for death, while some even committed suicide.

But after Paul and Silas were '...beaten [and]...thrown into prison...[they] were praying and singing...and the other prisoners were listening...' The Message says, 'The other prisoners couldn't believe their ears.' Talk about impact! Paul's attitude impressed them before his religious beliefs did. Anybody can sing in church, including hypocrites. But praise in prison - now that's something else! How did they do it? Perspective! It's not what you've lost but what you've left that counts! Paul didn't just sing in prison, he wrote some of his best stuff. Listen: '...everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn't shut me up; they gave me a pulpit! Alive, I'm Christ's messenger; dead, I'm His bounty. Life versus even more life! I can't lose' (Philippians 1:20-21). Wow! What are you going to do with a man like this? He's beyond your threats! His strength comes from within and is not diminished by things without. Overcoming faith - it'll impact them every time!

Prayer
Heavenly Father, in all circumstances help me to sing your praises, so that others can see the hope in You that I have inside me. In Your Precious Holy Name, Amen