Worship in Hardship

If you will read Acts 16: 16-34, it is the story when Paul and Silas heal a woman possessed  of bad spirit in Philipi. Yet because that spirit bring her owners money being able to foretell future, they aren't happy and drag Paul and Silas to authorities resulting to being stripped and beaten by the authorities and are thrown into prison. Yet instead of asking God why all these happened despite doing His will, they chose to worship the Lord and ²⁵began praying and singing hymns to God. Suddenly, there was a violent earthquake that prison were shaken. ²⁶At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose- suddenly is such a big word there. It means that when we choose to worship God in our hardship, sudden miracle/s will be released by Him. Usually, when earthquake strikes, it often traps people, but at this time, God is able to shake the foundation not to trap them but to release them.

Similarly, whatever bad situation we are in right now, if we worry too much about it, it will soon become our chains, but the good news is, the scripture would like to impart that the way out of it is through worship. Whatever circumstances, God is more than able to shake its foundation and set us free.

In addition, when we are experiencing hardship, the people around us can also be affected direct or indirectly. Same thing happened with Paul and Silas, ²⁷ 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- In reality, giving up is always the easiest way out of our bad situation but when we choose to worship God in all our circumstances, it will not only release miracles and breakthroughs but will also reveal His glory through salvation of others- 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.

No matter who we are, we have experienced, experiencing and will experience hardship in our lives. If we do the will of God, it will not exempt us, but if we are not, the more we will go through these situations. I encourage everyone to fix our eyes on Jesus and just experience the full power of His amazing grace.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is in Galatians 5:22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law- the Spirit that worked in Apostle Paul and in me will be the same Spirit that will work in you. Make a decision today and choose to worship God midst your situation.

Thoughts

Like how the trees are exposed to seasons and processes of nature, we too should find joy in walking through the seasons of life. It is through these processes in which our roots will dug deep and our fiber becomes strong on the inside enabling us to mature and get stable. When the storm comes, we can stand tall. We might lose few leaves or perhaps break some of our branches on the process but at the end of the day, we will stand firm.