Praise From The Prison

The effectiveness of "A PRAISE" is often with the potency of the person offering it. The Praise is as powerful as the person on whose mouth it is found.

It's not primarily in the ONE to whom it is offered. We know Him who receives all the praise. He remains the same. He has never changed. And let me be forward to say - He is not planning to change. It's neither in His short term nor in His long term goals to change. God the Almighty, Our Father, is not planning to change. Christ Jesus, my Lord, is not planning to fail. He is able to bring the same results throughout the ages and answer every generation....The challenge is with us.

You remember the praise that quaked the earth? Acts 16. I think two things, among others, made it so. Let me talk about it.

First is the Persons offering the praise. Second is the Place from which the praise is offered.

They were prisoners - Paul and Silas. They were Prisoners of God, not of the government. What was their crime? They cast out the spirit of divination from a possessed girl. I doubt that there is a provision in the constitution of any city-state addressing such "A crime". So they were locked up by the hands of God, not by the hands of man. For the men who put them there could not clarify the allegation.

But Paul and Silas, "certified" Prisoners of God, didn't waste their moments to debate, to contest or to argue. They simply accepted the verdict. I think so because they soon resorted to praying and praising. Have you seen a man who sings in maximum detention, with his feet fastened in stocks? Acts 16:24. He is a man not worried for his life, one who has resigned his destiny into the hands of the One who designed it initially.

Paul often introduced himself as AN APOSTLE OF CHRIST, but in Philemon, he added another title - A PRISONER OF CHRIST. This was the dual nature of his ministry. That he could be "ON THE GO" or at times be "UNDER LOCK AND KEY" in ministry. That he could sometimes be on the PLATFORM and at other times be in the PRISON . That he could be LAUNCHED OUT and at times LOCKED UP, and all still acknowledged as ministry.

Ah! How many of us want this?

Don't we have a multitude of us who rather want to be on the PLATFORM; in the face of the people, but never on the SIDELINE understanding how it can still bring FURTHERANCE to the gospel?

Here's what Paul had to say about it:

"But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ, and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear......What then? Only that in every way...Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice" Phil. 1:12-14, 18.

What? I didn't know that the gospel could be preached without words. I didnt know that the chains can preach and that the prison can speak. And that others can be imparted not by my laying of hands, but simply by my imprisonment.

The man here says:

"It doesn't matter whether I'm put on the PLATFORM or in the prison. It doesn't matter whether i'm in the public space or behind the scene. It doesn't matter whether I'm on the go or I'm under lock down. If by chance, any of these events lead to the spread of the gospel, I'm pleased to be a part...I don't mind to be behind the scene only if the work of God increases...I'll be OUT or IN, only of the Gospel is UP. "

This is a powerful life to live. This is a powerful state to be.

.........

They praised from the Prison. The Prison! That blessed place! Perhaps we owe more to the Prison than to the public. Two-thirds of the New Testament came from the Prison. John Bunyan's Treatise came from there. The virtues that broke the backbone of appertide were prison-made.....And God takes us too to that "historic" place to flame our prayer and to deepen our Praise. Our deepest praises come from our greatest prisons. Such is the history of most of our hymns. They came from deep confinements; when "the feet were in stocks".

It might mean that we are not under the limelight for a while. It might mean that we are kept from our normal schedules or put in some discomfort for a period. It might even mean that we are kept for a period of time from some of the pleasures that normally punctuate our lives. It might mean that those who used to be excited about us desert us for a period. But when a man in "God's Prison" lifts his voice in praise, the Spirit flows forth. For what we know ABOUT God is different from what we know OF Him. And the prison, at times, is our only chance. The Praise from that depth of revelation and that lowly place of training quakes the earth and breaks the chains of this life.

And after we have been imprisoned for a while, God has it in mind to rescue us by genius and to bring us out with a company. Perhaps this is the greatest point. If we escape from the Prison at the slightest chain-break, we are likely to come out alone. Others won't be saved. But if we wait for the FULL deliverance of God, we shall come out of the prison, Like Paul and Silas, with a Bunch of Others!

© Pastor Faith Oluwagbesan
Lead Pastor FGC CWB