Let’s Talk About Joy: The Purpose of Joy: To Provide Victory Page 2
There are many, many examples of God’s children glorifying God in the midst of their circumstances, like Abraham did. My favorite example of this is found in Acts chapter 16, beginning in verse 16. To give you a little background here, earlier in verse 9 we find that Paul had a vision in the night in which a man from Macedonia stood before him, asking him to come to Macedonia to help him. Paul knew that the Lord had done this so that Paul would go to Macedonia to preach the gospel. He took Silas along with him. After they arrived there, they did begin to preach. Now let’s look at the story in Acts 16:16-24 (NIV):
“16 Once, when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.’ 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!’ At that moment the spirit left her. 19 When the owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, ‘These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.’ 22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.”
I don’t know about you, but it takes a lot less than that to make me feel depressed and defeated. Paul and Silas did nothing wrong. They were accused by men who had enslaved a young woman and were using her for their gain. They were made a public spectacle in a strange land in the middle of the marketplace. They were beaten. They were placed in prison with shackles on their feet. In my opinion, this is a BAD day! But guess what? This is not the end of their story! Let’s read on beginning in Acts 16:25 (NIV):
“25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 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. 27 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. 28 But Paul shouted, ‘Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!’ 29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ 31 They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household.’ 32 Then they spoke the Word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34 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.”
Wow! Isn’t that good?! Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God – in the midst of their trouble – and God delivered not only them, but also the prison guard and all of his house! If you think it’s easy to sing praises to God in the midst of your trouble, think again; but if you will do it, God will deliver you out of your trouble! Singing in the middle of problems requires faith – it requires seeing the unseen – but singing praises to God will help joy to rise up on the inside of you, and you will overcome your adversity. You will be delivered. Paul and Silas weren’t singing about being in prison – they were singing praises to God in spite of being in prison. In other words, Paul and Silas were in the prison, but the prison was not in them!
Praise is an outward expression of joy. Praise is a very powerful tool we can use to help in our day-to-day life. I wrote these down years ago and don’t remember the source, but praise does some terrific things: 1) Praise gets your mind off of you, and onto God; 2) Praise will shake the circumstances; 3) Praising and rejoicing in the Lord will open prison doors that have been locked in your life; 4) Praising and rejoicing in the Lord will loosen the bands of the enemy from around you; and 5) praise brings the supernatural manifestations of God on the scene, which may lead sinners to salvation!
Joy and praise helped Paul and Silas to be victorious over their circumstances. It can help you too!