A Good Time to Praise

Tuesday 30 August
READ: Acts 16:22-28
MORE LESSON: Eph. 1:3-4

And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praise unto God: and the prisoners heard them: Act. 16:25. Is this how we react to hardship? Most of the time when trouble overwhelm us, we only plead with God for deliverance from the suffering, for healing of disease, for provision, for success and for God's quick intervention. We don't always remember to do as Paul and Silas did from the depths of jail cell, to offer thanks for God's loving-kindness, neither do we offer praise to God for giving us life and the blessed promise of eternal life.
There is this story of a man called Terry Waite, a courageous British negotiator during an international hostage crisis who went to Lebanon to arrange the release of prisoners. But he was also arrested and detained in solitary confinement. And through his long, lonely days and nights, not sure whether his life would be spared or not, he offered a prayer written in 1596 by Queen Elizabeth I. He expressed most humble and hearty thanks for manifold mercies so abundantly bestowed upon him as well as for God's preservation, regeneration, peace, gifts of seasons and times and great mercies exhibited by God in Jesus Christ.
When we do as Paul, Silas and Terry Waite did, we will surely get the result they got. It is sure that there are situations of life for which we find it difficult to thank God. But at that time, the best thing to do is to remember God's mercies of the past, give Him thanks for them and leave the present situation for God to handle as He did before.
Through the account of Paul and Silas, it is sure that one thing that makes God respond to men's situation quickly is praise and worship. Note that the Bible says, And suddenly... You need God's quick intervention: you need to do the unusual like them. You need to quit crying, murmuring or looking for men's connection to overcome the problem and worship like these apostles did. If you do it with the whole of your heart, you can be sure, the angel of the Lord will open the prison door and bring you out immediately (Acts 5:19). When we acknowledge God's great mercies, we are able to offer Him praise, even in pain and difficulty because praise comes naturally when we count our blessings.

PRAYER/ACTION
* Father God, there is no situation of life that You cannot handle, therefore I praise You.
* Thank You Father for Your unlimited mercies over my life.
* Oh Lord, I judge You able even in my present situation.

TODAY'S PROPHETIC PRAYER
I am moving forward, I will not retreat, I will not go backward, I will gain speed more and more, in the name of Jesus.