The Power of Praise

Acts 16:25-26, “ And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.”
We have all experienced a midnight hour. Our midnight hour was probably not near as extreme as Paul’s and Silas’s midnight hour. Paul and Silas were beaten, then thrown into prison and their feet were put into the stocks. They didn’t feel like praying and singing. It probably was the last thing they felt like doing. They did something that was sacrificial. This was no doubt what the bible refers to as the sacrifice of praise. But, where there is praise, there is power! It tells us that suddenly there was a earthquake, that the prison was shaken, that the doors were opened, and every one was set free. When we begin to praise God, then suddenly God begins to work in our situation. What looks impossible with man, God comes into our circumstances for our behalf and turns everything around. Through praise we are made free!
It is through praise that we begin to experience the power of God. Even Jesus taught in the Lord’s prayer that we begin prayer first with praise. In Matthew 6:9 it says, “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name.” The word Hallowed means to give praise. Jesus was saying to praise God before you begin to give him your petitions. In essence, praise escorts you into the presence of God. In psalms it says we enter his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. With praise we bring God into our situation. The book of Psalms tells us that God inhabits our praise. In other words, he comes and moves amongst us when we offer praise to him. There is power in praise!