IT'S MIDNIGHT

Acts 16:25 KJV 1900

And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

IT’S MIDNIGHT

Paul and Silas were had a real midnight experience.

It was midnight by the clock and by their circumstances.

Paul and Silas has been faithful in preaching the Gospel of Christ but they had been arrested and put through a mockery of a trial in which lies were preferred above truth.

As a result of the trial they were put in prison and were placed in stocks.

But because of their midnight manners they were to see the light of the morning in victory.

You may be in a midnight experience.

It may be a sickness, or a death in the family, or a job loss, or rejection because you did right.

When these times come upon us and the lights go out in our soul and we wonder if we will ever see the light of morning in victory, our text will show us how to obtain that victory.

FIRST—THE CHARACTER OF THEIR CONDUCT

“At midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God.” Paul and Silas did two things at the midnight hour which had much to do with victory in the morning.

• They prayed. “Prayed.” The midnight hour does not find many folk praying. It will find more folk trying to drown their troubles in booze, but that only adds to the darkness of their troubles. Prayer is a great deliverer from darkness. Prayer may be the only thing you can do in your midnight circumstances. Your hands may be tied and your feet bound by circumstances, but you can still pray which is a weapon far greater than any hands or feet. When the midnight hour descends on you, lift your heart in pray to God, it is a great help to seeing victory in the morning.

• They praised. “Sang praises unto God.” This was a most unusual thing to do, but it was a very wise and helpful thing to do. Scripture exhorts us to honor God in all things (Ephesians 5:20). Often during one’s midnight experience folk cuss and curse God and profane His holy name in their usage of it. That will not help one’s deliverance but only hinders it. Honoring God is one of the keys to deliverance from one’s midnight experiences.

SECOND—THE COGNIZANCE OF THEIR CONDUCT

“The prisoners heard them.” We have prisoners all around us tho are imprisoned by affliction and suffering and trials. What they hear from us will either lighten their burden or increase it. If Paul and Silas had cursed God and complained; it would have added to the prisoners depression and discouragement. One of the keys to deliverance from our midnight experiences is how we affect others in their midnight experiences. If we add to other people’s trials through unsanctified conduct, out deliverance can be delayed and even denied. But if we lighten their load by holy conduct, we hasten our own deliverance. Deliverance from our midnight experiences can be ours, but we must gain it God’s way, the way found in our text.