What Will You Do At Midnight?
Our text is in Acts 16:25-26 - And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened and every one’s bands were loosed.
We have an account here of prayer and praise unto the Lord that caused things to be shaken and doors to open. In fact, in this case all doors were opened and everyone’s bands were loosed.
Your prayer and praise are powerful spiritual weapons. Sometimes when we come to church it isn’t easy to get our praise going, but it is necessary.
These men were offering a sacrifice of praise. I don’t think it was easy to get that song started. They had been whipped, stripped, and thrown into prison. For all they knew they had been whipped and the axe could be next.
Satan had tried to put an end to their ministry. He tried to cause them to be weary of their cause and doubtful of their Lord. But they knew what to do and they knew who to look to and God turned it around.
Our text said, "At midnight". There is an old song that says, "It’s easy to sing when the sun is shining bright, but you need a song in your heart in the night."
Psalms 119:62 says: At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto Thee because of Thy righteous judgements.
What will we do at midnight? Midnight is a milestone so to speak. The night is half over and with each minute we get closer to the dawn. The question we face is; can we make it until day break?
The answer depends on what we do at midnight, what decision we make, and did we prepare while it was yet day.
Exodus 12:29 tells us that at midnight the Lord did smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from that of Pharoah to the firstborn of the one in the dungeon. Only the ones who had applied the blood of the passover lamb were spared. Only those who had prepared.
What will you do at midnight? What you do at midnight depends a great deal on what you do now. Jesus said work while it is yet day.
How we come out of a trial often depends on how we went in to it.
Paul told Timothy to be a good soldier. Soldiers prepare for battle in time of peace. They practice.
When the enemy is closing in, you don’t have time to get out the Book and find out how to load your weapon.
I have heard men tell of being in the army. They were taught to disassemble and assemble that weapon blind folded, so if need be they could do it in the dark, because their life might depend on it.
Friend we are in a spiritual warfare and many Christians not only don’t know how their weapons work, but they were not even aware that they had any.
II Corinthians 10:4 says, For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.
Ephesians 6:11 says, Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
When Paul and Silas began to praise God and to sing in the midst of that prison, they were using spiritual weapons.
The Bible says that Daniel was in the habit of praying 3 times a day before he was thrown into the den of lions, but that’s why the lion’s mouth’s were shut.
You don’t have time to figure out how prayer works as you are being thrown into the lions.
When things go wrong some are in the habit of praying and some are in the habit of cursing.
What will you do at midnight? Will you turn to God or will you turn on God? The point is that we are to prepare for midnight before midnight comes.
The 25th chapter of Matthew talks of ten virgins that took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five were wise and five were foolish. The foolish took no oil with their lamps. The wise took oil in their vessels for their lamps. They prepared. Their vessels were filled.
The cry came at midnight and the foolish found their lamps gone out. They also found that they could not make it in on the other five’s oil. They had to go to buy oil and while they were going the bridegroom came. The five that were ready went in with Him and the door was shut.
If we don’t stay filled up on the things of God in the midst of our trial, we may find our lamp going out.
What will you do at midnight? If the cry came tonight, would you be ready, or would you have to get something in order?
Let me ask you, "If the midnight cry came, has the blood been applied, has the Spirit been received, has the praise been offered?"
Isaiah 30:29 says, Ye shall have a song as in the night: and gladness of heart.
Do you have a song for the night?
