The Acts.16 narrative finds Paul and Silas in the city of Philippi on a power-filled missions trip of sorts, where we see the birth of the church that we will later read about in the book of Philippians. But not everyone is thrilled with the salvations and new found spiritual freedom that had come to the city. Some are so infuriated that they actually incite a mob, who with the approval of the city officials have the two men stripped, beaten and thrown into jail where they are kept under the watchful eye of a roman centurion.
The story takes an interesting twist where at “about midnight” (the darkest hour of the night, furthest away from light on either side) where we don’t find Paul and Silas moaning, sulking or angrily plotting an escape plan, but rather they are “praying and singing hymns to God”.
They started to praise!
Maybe at the moment you are feeling “Stripped”. Stripped of dignity, stripped of your confidence; feeling pretty exposed and raw.
Possibly you’re in a space where you’re feeling “beaten”. Beaten up emotionally, hit by wave after wave, as life just keeps coming, one thing after another.
Or maybe you’re “imprisoned”. Imprisoned by addictions, by the guilt of your past or by fear of your future.
Maybe it’s “about midnight” for you now, or maybe it’s coming. If you live long enough you will bleed; trouble’s coming, Jesus himself told us so!
As you read, I want to give you a weapon called praise, a weapon that sees mountains move.
PRAISE BRINGS PERSPECTIVE
Their perspective was so bad, so they traded it for another one!
1.Praise changes where we look
Too often I find myself obsessing and fixating over a frustrating or negative situation, and my perspective on it gets so discoloured, warped and limited. When we choose to instead pick up the weapon of praise, we begin to view our circumstance from a different vantage point.
When I watch television at home on a lazy Saturday afternoon, often the screen becomes hard to watch because of the sun’s glare from the windows. I can push through, squint my eyes and try to make out what is happening on the screen, or I can get up and change seats and view the TV from an angle where the glare doesn’t affect it. In the analogy, the situation hasn’t changed but my vantage point or perspective has!
One of my favourite Psalms is Psalm 73 and was written by a man named Asaph. Why I love this Psalm is that it mirrors what I often catch myself saying, “life’s not fair!” Simply paraphrased, Asaph is despairing that “the wicked have all the gold, glory and girls” and “though I’m godly I have nothing!”
The Psalm reaches its high point right in the middle when there is a perspective shift as Asaph’s whining turns to praise, “when I entered the sanctuary/ your presence”
We don’t praise because God forgets who he is, but we praise so we don’t forget who He is!
2.Praise changes how we feel
My worst enemy often is me! Way too often I get duped into allowing my feelings to dictate my future.
Growing up in a very charismatic church I learned that there are two times to praise God: when I feel like it and when I don’t. When we embrace this understanding, praise moves from being just a method, a style of music or church-expression and becomes a more all-encompassing posture of our hearts.
You see, our feelings are a poor master. Every second book, talk-show and well-meaning friend will say “follow your heart!” Unfortunately, that is not the advice and instruction of scripture. We are called to follow Christ and his leading. We are people who don’t look within for our confidence, peace or joy, but rather look without to Christ. Paul and Silas refused to follow their hearts, although they probably had every right to, and chose to posture their hearts in a direction of praise.
When my wife and I welcomed our little baby girl Olivia into the world, everything changed. What I was unprepared for was seeing my normally stoic and in-control wife become a flood of hormones, tears, and anxieties. Although this is a normal post-baby situation, we spoke at length that although we would extend grace to each other in this season, we would intentionally turn our hearts to praise. Even when we didn’t feel like it. Especially when we didn’t feel like it.
You see, our circumstances are not supposed to determine our praise. Rather it is our praise that determines whether our circumstances become our prison or our passport; our obstacle or our opportunity.
No matter what your finances.
No matter what’s going on in your marriage.
No matter how crazy your teens are acting.
If you allow praise to change where you look and how you feel, you will find that the very thing you thought that was confining you will become the very thing that will release you into the more!