CONCERT OF PRAYER

Pray Week 667

“They Are Listening”

Acts 16:22-34 (NIV) The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. …The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved–you and your household.”

Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. 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 family.

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There is a saying that a person’s actions shout so loudly that others cannot hear the words they are speaking. Accept the fact that others ‘listen’ to you attentively. They ‘listen’ to both your words and your action responses to common life situations. For many people, you are the only ‘bible’ they will ever ‘read’ and your actions will speak more to them than the words of your personal testimony about Jesus.

Paul and Silas were prisoners and in a sense we also are all prisoners of sin until we are set free by the power of Christ. You who profess to be a follower of Christ, what do the other prisoners ‘hear’ in your presence?

Not many of us have experienced what Paul and Silas experienced … the false accusation, severe beating and imprisonment. Yet they sang hymns and prayed to God. What do the prisoners ‘hear’ from you when things don’t quite go right at the office or at home? Do you push people away from Jesus or are they drawn to Him through the ‘message of your life’?

Are you a different person in the Sunday church context than you are at home or at work? Are you a different person when you have traveled far from the context or accountability of your home base or is the character of Jesus Christ consistently evident in your character, no matter where you are?

How do you respond to life’s challenges and difficult situations? Is your response consistent with Biblical values and Christian ethics? Do you respond as one who moves in the strength, peace, love and power of God’s Holy Spirit? Does your response lift high the banner of the Lord so that all who see and watch and listen may be drawn to Him and set free from the bondage and death of sin?

Pray for integrity and consistency in your daily walk with Jesus. Seek to live and move and have your being in Him. Seek His continual abiding presence. May all who ‘listen’ to your life be drawn to Jesus.

Close in prayer, thanksgiving & rededication of your work to the glory of God