What Can Prayer Do Part Three

Acts 16:18-33 New King James Version

What Can Prayer Do?

What Can Prayer Do?

1. Prayer can open people’s hearts (Acts 16:14-15).

2. Prayer can bring discernment (Acts 16:16-18).

3. Prayer can drive out demons (Acts 16:18).

4. Prayer can get you through difficult times (Acts 16:18-33).

a. Acts 16:18 And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour.

b. Acts 16:19

i. But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone,

ii. they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.

1. Many have asked why only Paul and Silas were singled out for persecution, with Timothy and Luke left free. Of course, Paul and Silas were the leaders of the missionary party and therefore most open to attack. But we must also remember that Paul and Silas were Jews and probably looked very much like Jews (cf. comments on 14:3 on the tradition of Paul’s appearance). Timothy and Luke, however, being respectively half-Jewish and fully Gentile (cf. Col 4:14, where Luke is grouped by Paul with his Gentile friends), probably looked Greek in both their features and their dress and therefore were left alone.[1]

c. Acts 16:20-21

i. (v.20) And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, “These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city;

1. Anti-Semitic charge: being Jews

ii. (v.21) and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.”

d. Acts 16:22

i. Then the multitude rose up together against them;

ii. and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods.

1. Beaten with rods - to beat with a rod or cane; the lowest level of Roman beatings.

e. Acts 16:23

i. And when they had laid many stripes on them,

ii. they threw them into prison,

iii. commanding the jailer to keep them securely.

1. Jailers commonly were retired army veterans, who could be expected to follow orders and use their military skills as required.[2]

f. Acts 16:24

i. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

1. Inner prison

2. Stocks n. — an instrument of punishment or detainment consisting of a framework with holes in which the feet (and sometimes the hands) of an offender could be locked.

a. These stocks had more than two holes for the legs, which could thus be forced apart in such a way as to cause the utmost discomfort and cramping pain[3]

g. Acts 16:25

i. But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

1. Were praying - The Greek indicates they prayed for some time[4]

h. Acts 16:26

i. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken;

ii. and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.

i. Acts 16:27

i. 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.

1. Guards would face the penalty of the prisoners entrusted to them if their prisoners escaped.

j. Acts 16:28

i. But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.”

k. Acts 16:29

i. Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.

l. Acts 16:30

i. And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

1. Acts 16:17 This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.”

m. Acts 16:31

i. So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

n. Acts 16:32

i. Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.

o. Acts 16:33

i. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes.

ii. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.

Application

1. People are watching us in our darkest hours.

a. Acts 16:25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

2. God works miracles when we pray and worship.

a. Acts 16:26 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.

3. All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

a. Acts 16:32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.

b. Acts 16:33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.

[1]Longenecker, R. N. (1981). The Acts of the Apostles. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: John and Acts (Vol. 9, p. 463). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House. [2]Longenecker, R. N. (1981). The Acts of the Apostles. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: John and Acts (Vol. 9, p. 464). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House. [3]Bruce, F. F. (1988). The Book of the Acts (p. 315). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. [4]Horton, S. M. (2001). Acts: A Logion Press Commentary (p. 286). Springfield, MO: Logion Press.