12th Sep 26 | 04:00
Daily Study
God transformed the other prisoners
Acts 16 - Series 04/Episode 26 - Tue 11th Aug 2026 - God transformed the other prisoners - Acts 16:16-40 - EXPERIENCES AT PHILIPPI - John 03:08
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Acts 16:25 But *at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them*.
Paul and Silas were in the inner prison, their feet in the stocks, but they were praying and singing hymns. The other prisoners could not see them, since Paul and Silas were deliberately put in the inner prison to make them feel that they were dreadful criminals. None of these things dampened the spirits of Paul and Silas.
The other prisoners were curious to know who these dangerous criminals were. They were expecting to hear cursing, ranting, screaming and foul language from these two evil criminals. Instead, what they heard completely shook them. They heard prayer and hymns being sung. Prayer and hymns that thanked and praised God.
The Lord was beginning a great work in the continent of Europe. This work of God actually began in the inner prison of Philippi. Isn't this against our logic of how impact should have happened? We would have expected that from the deliverance of the slave girl from the evil spirit, a wave of conversions would have happened. That did not take place. What happened was against the growth of the Gospel, for which Paul and the team had come to Macedonia and to Europe. Being in the inner prison meant that the devil was successful in clamping down on the spread of the Gospel. Paul and Silas could have felt defeated.
Yet, God's ways are higher and hugely different. Isaiah 55:8-9 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. (9) "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. / Romans 11:33-36 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! (34) "FOR WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD? OR WHO HAS BECOME HIS COUNSELOR?"(35) "OR WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM AND IT SHALL BE REPAID TO HIM?" (36) For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
As Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns, a remarkable transformation was occurring within the prison in Philippi. The first group of people whose hearts the Lord was touching were those of the other prisoners. The prisoners were listening to the prayer and hymns of Paul and Silas.
How can we say that they were impacted by prayer and the hymns? We read about what took place immediately. Acts 16:26-28 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."
A bond had formed between Paul and Silas with the other prisoners. They had not met each other, but the connection between Paul and Silas with the rest of the prisoners was the prayer and the hymns that were sung. God was using prayer and the hymns to build a bridge with the rest of the prisoners, and their hearts began to change. Consider how the Holy Spirit moved in this situation. John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
In the confusion of the earthquake, the prison doors were opened, and the prisoners were loosed from their chains. The prisoners should have fled without wasting a moment. This was what the jailor immediately decided had happened, and he took his sword to kill himself. He knew that he would have to pay with his life for the escape of the prisoners, for he was sleeping instead of keeping guard over the prison.
The prisoners did not run away. Can there be a human explanation for this behaviour of the prisoners? No. There is no human logic. This was God. The Lord had brought about conversion in the hearts of the prisoners, and all of them stayed. Why did they stay? They had to meet Paul and Silas.
They had been listening to the prayers and hymns of Paul and Silas, and suddenly, the earthquake occurred. The prisoners knew that this was God. They could not imagine how these most notorious criminals could be praying and singing hymns. They needed to meet these strange criminals and know what made them so powerful. First, they prayed and sang hymns when they should have been cursing, and this praying and hymn singing caused an earthquake that brought down the prison, and all of them were set free. They had to meet and know Paul and Silas. The Lord was moving in the most dramatic way in the prison in Philippi.
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