IT'S JUST A GREAT EARTHQUAKE!

Acts 16:25-34.........25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed. 27 And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. 28 But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, "Do yourself no harm, for we are all here." 29 Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31 So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34 Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.
NKJV

Now in Acts 16:16-24, we find out how Paul and Silas ended up in a prison. People are all connected in some way, and we see it here in this passage. Paul had cast the spirit out of the young girl who followed them around.

Because of their act on the spirit, the girl's masters seized Paul and Silas. They dragged them to the the marketplace to authorities of the city. Being led to the magistrates, the order was given for Paul and Silas to be beaten with rods and after receiving many stripes to their bodies, they were taken by the jailer to the inner prison and their feet were secured in the stocks.

As we find Paul and Silas praying and singing about midnight, we find that the prisoners were listening to them and those hymns to God!
Suddenly there was a "great earthquake". Not a 3.2, but a great earthquake..........so great that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and all the doors opened immediately from the force. Interesting that all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed. The keeper of the prison was also awakened. Interesting he was awakened out of his sleep. Did he not hear the singing and praise going on? Yet, it states that Paul yelled out.............loudly......not to kill himself.
Yes, a violent shaking and all the doors of the prison opened. The keeper drew his sword to kill himself as he was alarmed that the prisoners probably had left the prison.

Paul and Silas were exerting a godly influence, when staying in the same place they had been chained. They were exerting some influence, when Paul told the keeper to do himself no harm. They were exerting godly influence in giving the "keeper" the thing he needed. "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
He called them "sirs"! Okay, they smell like stinky poop. It was probably the stinkiest place on earth and being in the depths of the prison probably proved to be hot and foul! This guy calls them sirs!

In those moments, when something occurs as the "great earthquake", a 9-11, or F-5 tornado, would we be there, standing and delivering the message of life to be saved? If you were locked up in chains and they fell off, would you stand or would you run? ( is it every man for himself?)
I think of those who, if they experienced it today, would say, "the Lord has loosed the chains, and I am out of here." If that great earthquake occurred in or around a prison and the doors flew open, how many do you think would flee the area without thinking twice about it?
I was thinking of the movie "Fugitive" and the train wreck. There were a lot of convicts making their way off that train for freedom!


When we talk of the salvation message, we think of what we were expected to do when presented with the same as the "keeper". It is knowing that we are to be loyal to One. It is knowing we need saving. Once conversion came, we became the family of God. We had to make a choice.
These men had to make a choice to stay in the prison even though it was "wide open" and nothing held them. But one thing held them. It was their character. They were connected to God!

One dictionary defines character as " the complex of mental and ethical traits marking a person." Character is said to be the stable and distinct quality that is built into an individual which determines his or her response of circumstances.

Our character is determined by that one that rules it. We can see in scripture that Peter confirms Jesus' words. Let's look into the book of Acts.
Acts 5:29-32................. 29 But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. 31 Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him." 
NKJV

Where does our loyalty lie? Was I forced to make a decision for Christ? No, I was not forced, but I certainly knew I had it placed before me and the question had to be answered. I NEEDED A SAVIOR!  Yes, I received Jesus as Lord of my life. 
But that "loyalty"  has to be in place every day and not only on "church day"!.
When the world puts pressure on us, and we must make decisions, is Jesus on the throne of our hearts, AND what will our character reveal?
Will we stand as Paul and Silas, and bring others to Jesus.........or flee like Chicken Little.............the sky is falling........kind of thing........."should I stay, or should I go"?
Will we revert to the past and use those old habits to rule our decisions or will we keep Jesus seated on our hearts? Running in when a catastrophe occurs, as in 9-11, is something most have to think about doing. For those like firemen, police officers, and paramedics, it is something they do not have to think or meditate on, they are ready for it! For me, seeing that ash and smoke rising and falling to create the sense of late evening, gave me the shutters to the core of my being.

When we read on about Paul and Silas, the "keeper" brought them out, and cleaned their wounds. He took them home, fed them and his whole house was saved!
Standing still when adversity comes, IS MUCH LIKE that silence that comes after the great earthquake. I know for I have been in an earthquake and have heard the silence after things stop crashing and the ground stops rumbling like a bowling ball against pins in a bowling alley all going at once.........and then silence!
Standing still, everything is torn apart, nothing looks familiar and WHAT? Standing still in the silence when a word comes that your step-father has passed suddenly and your mother is taken to the hospital. What will those circumstances reveal about our character?
A WORD COMES, AND IT IS NOT A GOOD WORD!
No one is exempt from this one thing! Paul and Silas were not exempt from them.
What will be revealed in your life, when the enemy comes with a circumstance? When the moment comes, AND THOSE thoughts and pressures build about that circumstance, will you or I sing? These men went from beatings to singing, to a great earthquake, to giving the message of salvation to others.


Today, we pray in Jesus' holy name. Father, we set ourselves to pray and not lose heart.(Hebrews 12:3)
Lord, we know not what obstacles we will face today. But we thank You for illumination in situations that we cannot understand at this time. Our hearts are set on You. Whatever the circumstances today, whatever heartache, you have given us the ability to hear You speak in these situations.
2 Peter tells us that God has given us all things that pertain to life and godly living. It is understandable then that wisdom and revelation has been given to us as well and that we have access to it. 

Father, we pray to be those who will sing praise to You through the most horrific of times, and give YOUR message of salvation when all others may be fleeing the house. We desire to be those who co-operate with YOU and receive instruction as we lean into YOU and receive faith for this walk. Today, we pray to hear YOU in every circumstance we face. The surface of everything may look good to us, but You Lord have all knowledge as YOU see the end from the beginning. Today, we pray to be those who will listen and know Your voice. So when any catastrophic event may occur, to shake up our lives, we know hearing YOUR voice will give us the direction in and through those hidden dangers, obstacles and traps the enemy may have placed in our path to cause us to stumble. Trouble may come, and pain may come into our hearts for the loss of a loved one, or where we stand is no longer familiar to us, but our every focus is on YOU, the Great I AM in our midst. In the midst of these trials, our names remain the same, the place may look different, and there may even be those smells of smoke and the sounds of disaster, but we remain and abide in YOU, our Fortress and Hightower. Praise be to God, the Faithful One, the Everlasting One, The Great "I AM" ! AMEN.

You can also visit my Youtube channel The Voice of Prayer for more teaching at http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV 

Keep on Singing

Psalms 63 

63:1...O God, You are my God;
Early will I seek You;
My soul thirsts for You;
My flesh longs for You
In a dry and thirsty land
Where there is no water.
2 So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.

3 Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips shall praise You.
4 Thus I will bless You while I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips. NKJV

Singing with a joyful heart will come out of our mouths with words of praise to our God!

Isaiah 51:11.....11 So the ransomed of the LORD shall return,

And come to Zion with singing,

With everlasting joy on their heads.

They shall obtain joy and gladness;

Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.  NKJV

We the Redeemed are to come with singing, are to come with proclaiming the Good news, that God sent His Son. 

And what else has He done for us lately? What is the good report that God has done lately for us?

Do we have a triumph to shout about? Do we have joy because He heard us when we prayed?

That "shall flee away" is nuwc pronounced....noos.......and it means to lift up a standard. Like lifting the standard when the enemy brings in the flood in a situation.

That obtaining joy and gladness, is the to take hold of and grow rich in. (to obtain: nasag....nawsag.)...

Never thought of growing rich in the singing part. But now I understand the thought of being able to expand in the praise part, so proclaiming God and His goodness helps us to grow rich.........in what we are expounding on in the way of praise to God and that includes singing!          

Isaiah 51:11....11 So the ransomed of the LORD shall return,

And come to Zion with singing,

With everlasting joy on their heads.

They shall obtain joy and gladness;

Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.  NKJV

Song 2:11-13.....11 For lo, the winter is past,

The rain is over and gone. 

12 The flowers appear on the earth;

The time of singing has come,

And the voice of the turtledove 

Is heard in our land. 

13 The fig tree puts forth her green figs,

And the vines with the tender grapes 

Give a good smell.

Rise up, my love, my fair one,

And come away!   NKJV

That singing in Song 2 and verse 12 is mentioning the voice of the turtledove that is heard in our land. That is the word qowl or qol.............meaning to make voice........to MAKE A SOUND.

When done, it brings and holds "peace". In the same meaning it brings as sparking thunder.

I like this scripture that it tells us winter is past. The rain is over and gone. Those fragrant flowers now appear. The voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land. That land which you and I have. It is that land which oozes and flows with every resource we need to fulfill God's call on our lives. Yes the blossoms give fragrance and I think of that fragrance that we give out when we give praise and pray to God!....2 Corinthians 2:14-17.......................Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.   NKJV

That fragrance is by the Holy Spirit Who is given without measure..........John 3:34-36

34 For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. 35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. 36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."  NKJV

In that He has given us of His Spirit without measure, we grow, expand, to make a sound that causes peace of God to remain here with us. It is a part of the standard we set when we choose to praise and sing songs from our heart to God!

However amount of time we choose to do praise and sing , is that measure of degree we flow in easily. But we are told we can grow rich in it!

Psalm 45:6-9.........6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;

A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. 

7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness;

Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You 

With the oil of gladness more than Your companions. 

8 All Your garments are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia,

Out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad. 

9 Kings' daughters are among Your honorable women;

At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir. NKJV

God gave a scepter of righteousness into Jesus' hand. His garments are those scented with myrrh, aloes, and cassia.  As His daughters we are among the honorable women. We wear the garments, those royal robes that God chose for us to wear. Those royal garments are those inlaid with the finest gold. ( the gold of Ophir was very rare) 

I know that when we pray, when we worship through song and praise, our homes can have the same smells of those costly spices the kings had back in the days of King David to  King Jesus. I know that in leaving home for awhile, I can come back to find this scent, and it is not one bought at the store that you might plug in to scent your home with baked apple pie. No, I have gone back to find a scent that was given in prayer time and praise. 

Our time invested into His goodness, and His wisdom leads to find the level path. It also causes our homes to fill up with His beautiful presence.

Keep on singing, Keep on rejoicing, Keeping on seeking HIM and He will be found! Though He is not far from us............Acts 17:27-28..........27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'  NIV

Father, may we expand our praise time to more than an evening service or morning time at church. Our desire is to give YOU praise for all that happens in this place of our home. Today we seek to be those who keep on singing even if it looks like storm clouds ahead. Today we choose to keep on singing even though things seem out of order and not in line what we are believing for our lives or our loved ones. But we know that in YOU we live and move, and have our being. We are YOUR offspring and we desire to grow more like YOU. May our garments give the scents of those coslty garments scented with aloes, myrrh, and cassia. As we seek to please YOU our Father, we desire to let the Holy Spirit have His way in our prayer time, our praise time, and in our singing time. We desire to speak as the HOLY Spirit leads us to speak, and to see Your fragrances of knowledge diffused everywhere. You also give the Holy Spirit without measure. Today we pray to be those who will wax rich in the praises to our God. We pray to be those who will sing a song at the least likely time, and see God do the miraculous for us. We give thanks for Jesus, the Sceptor of Righteousness.  We will make voice...We WILL MAKE A SOUND that will bring Your peace. A peace that will hold us and bring strength to stand for what we are believing for at this moment. It is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

You can also visit my Youtube channel The Voice of Prayer for more teaching at http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV 

A BIG DOSE OF JOY

Jeremiah 15:16.....Your words were found and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. NKJV

Acts 2:28.....You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence. NKJV

JOY: God's kind of joy is holy and pure. It is one that will rise above any circumstance and sets our focus on the One who gave this joy.  Joy: usually Hebrew gil to "leap" or "spin around" with much pleasure.
Rejoicing: Greek...chara..........gladness as seen in Matthew 2:10.......10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.  NKJV

In our present moment, joy may seem far from us! But when we run our fingers through the written Word of God we find God delivering with each verse the joy we are blessed to have. It is in His goodness and love that we look for the enjoyment of a joy that takes us to new heights in Him.


It is a characteristic that brings us or transport us to a place of satisfaction, to a place in His peace, a place of triumph.........and it is an honorable place. It is described as glory.



Psalm 43:4............4 Then will I go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the harp,
O God, my God.  NIV

Isaiah 61:10-11..............10 I delight greatly in the LORD;

my soul rejoices in my God.

For he has clothed me with garments of salvation 

and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,

as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,

and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 

11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up 

and a garden causes seeds to grow,

so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise 

spring up before all nations.  NIV

From the above scripture, we find that Isaiah pronounces his delight in the God of his soul. He proclaimed that God had clothed him with the garments of salvation and arrayed him with a robe of righteousness.

Wow! Sounds like royalty to me...........

It is God Himself who makes the sprout and causes a plant from the seeds to grow. In His Sovereign Love and righteousness...........He sows seeds of righteousness and praise.

When we spend time with our grandchild, she has her agenda. She loves to color and loves to dance to praise music to the Lord. One cannot but be infused with that same love once you pick a coloring book and a scented marker and start placing some color over those pages of white with black lines. When you hear the child speak and you both share a common end............that is to see a picture finished in its entirety and know that every color was placed "within the lines" with love, you experience a great amount of satisfaction. It brings me back to my time as a young child and how I loved to color and create things out of paper, clay and color paint.

When the music begins to play out, you cannot help but want to dance as she dances before the Lord. She sings and makes up many songs to the Lord and in all that, she has a joy. There is laughter and fun in each thing she brings to the table.
Our grand-daughter was just being who she is created to be. She has no ulterior motives. She is a child and expects fun no matter what. She sows to the things she has been taught. She is being taught that the Word of God works and there is praise to be given to His holy name.

So when we spend time with the Word and search out His joy and His glory.........we find that we speak and can continue to sow seeds of joy............a gladness in our hearts that others will see and experience much like we did with our grand-daughter.

This joy is always produced by the Spirit of God. It is a joy that always looks forward to eternity. It does not focus on the bad report, the evil day or the world's economy, but looks for the coming of Jesus for His believers.

When the Holy Spirit is invited in, He is known by the fruit of His love, His joy, His peace, kindness, patience, goodness and faithfulness, gentleness and yes, self-control.
 That those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. To live by the Spirit is to keep step with the Spirit. We are to never become conceited, provoking and envying each other. Galatians 5:22-26
The spirit of rejoicing, joy and laughter is our heritage. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty….an emancipation from bondage

If we must protest something, can we be those who do it in and through the Holy Spirit,so that people will know us by His love? Can we expect to see the justice in our lives that is from heaven when we allow God into every situation?

If I sow joy into others, will I not see the sprouts spring up into joy for my own life?
If we sow towards being self-centered, our way and no other way, then we leave ourselves open to chaos, perverseness and judgment. (and it will come)

When we say come Holy Spirit, and have Your  way today in our lives...........we move over into the things of God that lead to life-giving plans He placed in us from the foundation of the world. When we understand that we can keep and abide in His presence by seeking His plan and find that assignment for our lives. We should be able to see with His eyes and experience the same creativity He did from the beginning of the this world. His joy is one that brings us out of human plans and programs and brings us to the new thing in God. Today, I ask for the perfect plan that God has given us through His glory, His joy that helps us rise above every devil, every evil day and every bad report and expect to see God arise in our lives and see His glory. Amen


John 17:20-24........................20 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. 24 Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. NKJV

It was our being restored to glory that was the "joy" set before Christ. We were made one with He and the Father. When we look to the scripture of the "prodigal son" in Luke 15 we see the great joy our Father had in restoring us as sons to Himself. He delighted, and took great joy to see this oneness. It was the gift of the Holy Spirit, His Spirit to dwell within us and live as one.
The answer is clear: it is God who as our Father took delight in His children and His own created children to delight in Him.   Just like we delight in our grand-daughter who is so vitally important in our family, so too, are we so vitally important in the family of God. Yes, it was a Big dose of JOY!

Father, thank You for Jesus who endured the cross despising the shame that was set before HIM! You were working on bringing Your family back together as one! I pray that each who read this will walk as sons and daughters of the Most High God.  I pray we tremble with extreme joy of knowing and living in Your Presence our Heavenly Father. Today I thank YOU for restoration and salvation for all who take part in this prayer. I believe and expect to see Your glory that is joy abounding in our hearts and lives.You live in our hearts by faith and know YOU have our best in mind. I pray that we would continue to be those who walk on in connecting with You daily and to see our relationship with You grow and expand. Nothing matters more than our life with You. I thank You for the legacy of glory in our families. I bless YOU and give thanks in remembrance of Your Holy Name and Your Son's Holy Name. Amen.

You can also visit my Youtube channel The Voice of Prayer for more teaching at http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV