Week 2 - Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Acts 16:25-34
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. 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.
This passage of scripture is beautiful and reminds us why we worship. Paul and Silas have recently healed a demon-possessed girl, and been thrown in prison as a consequence. They’ve been beaten, humiliated, and chained up in the darkest cell in the prison, yet their response isn’t hatred towards their captors, or to complain about their situation, their response is to worship. They begin to sing songs together and all heaven breaks loose! They worship, and those trapped in chains become free and their cell doors burst open!
Worship is a powerful tool; when we focus on and declare the greatness of God, even when its hardest, we can know again the freedom we have in Jesus. We all have our battles to face. If we invite God into the midst of them, and constantly put him at the centre of our lives, victories will be won. There’s an old hymn that says:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.
The jailor assumes everyone has escaped so goes to turn his sword on himself before Paul and Silas interrupt him, and they take the opportunity to lead this man to Jesus, and this was made possible because of their initial response to the situation they were in. They were beaten and chained, and yet they still found it within themselves to worship. And sometimes, let’s be honest, we really have to muster up the strength to do that don’t we? But because of their faith, because of their true, heartfelt worship, they had the opportunity to introduce this man to Jesus, and his life was changed.
What has our response been to the situation we are in right now?
How is your faith looking?
Is worship a struggle right now?
It’s ok if the answer is yes! In this time we’d love to encourage you to invest in your worship life. Fill your home with worship! There’s enough resources out there to immerse yourself with great music that will inspire you to give glory to the Lord. Every Thursday, as a church, we will be uploading a new Spotify playlist so you can worship in your homes, but there is worship music all over Spotify, Youtube, Apple Music whatever you use, you’ll be able to find something. We’ll be worshipping together on Facebook and Instagram every Tuesday at 7pm, and Sunday at 6pm so do come along and get involved in that too.
If you have social media, you have a great opportunity to be a light in your online communities by bringing the hope of Jesus to those who don’t know Him. Fill your feeds with Jesus! You could be making an impact in people’s lives, just be uploading an encouraging verse, or a song you’re enjoying at the moment.
Though we may not find ourselves in the same situation as Paul and Silas, we are still in a painful situation. So how are we going to respond? Turn your eyes upon Jesus, worship the King, and let’s bring hope to those we love.