{"id":15988,"date":"2026-06-27T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T20:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/?p=15988"},"modified":"2026-06-27T14:57:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T19:57:47","slug":"the-power-of-praise-and-worship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/27\/the-power-of-praise-and-worship\/","title":{"rendered":"THE POWER OF PRAISE AND WORSHIP"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Acts 16<\/strong> we find Paul & Silas being brought before town officials in Philippi on accusations of troubling the city and teaching unlawful customs. \u201cThen the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded\u00a0them\u00a0to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw\u00a0them\u00a0into prison…fastening their feet in the stocks.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But at midnight Paul & Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone\u2019s chains were loosed. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, \u201cDo yourself no harm, for we are all here.\u201d Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, \u201cSirs, what must I do to be saved?\u201d<\/em> (Acts 16:20-30<\/strong>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sing loud<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s easy, in looking at this passage, to suppose that the singing of Paul and Silas was directly responsible for releasing the power of God and causing the earthquake. But the text doesn\u2019t say that at all. If it did, we’d have good reason to believe that worship is the secret recipe Christians can use to unlock the power of God. And who wouldn’t want the ability to improve their situation and make life more favorable just by following a simple formula? Even pagans hope for that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This explains why so much of the teaching you\u2019ll hear on the subject is built on a false premise that goes something like this: If you praise and worship God, it’ll unleash divine power so that you can get what you want<\/em>. But that only incentivizes the flesh. God didn\u2019t give us praise and worship to use as a tool of control against Him as if He were a cobra snake, and we, the charmer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

empowered praise<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

In this passage, there are other<\/em> things that display God\u2019s power better than the earthquake does. How about the fact that Paul and Silas remained cheerful even though they were beaten raw \u201cwith rods<\/em>\u201d and greatly suffering \u201cin the stocks<\/em>\u201d? Instead of crying and complaining they were praising and worshipping. The quake wasn’t God’s response to their singing; their singing was the result of God’s grace. Earthquakes are powerful, yes. But the grace of God is more so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The power of God is better seen in a man who still worships Him, even after being pummeled, than in the man who thinks he can manipulate God with praise and worship. The Lord doesn’t need our empowerment; we need His. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

empowered worship<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Further evidence of God’s power lies in the fact that, after<\/em> the earthquake, Paul and Silas had an opportunity to flee the prison yet chose to stay put. Remaining a prisoner of the Lord even after a way of escape has been discovered is an act of pure worship. But how can such self-restraint be explained? What enabled Paul, Silas, and all the other prisoners to deny the impulse to flee? The only feasible explanation is divine mercy. Their collective decision to stay in prison spared the life of the jailer. Had they run, he would’ve died, so, in mercy, God bound them all with chains that nobody else could see. Seismic tremors are powerful, yes. But the mercy of God is more so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not easy to practice self-restraint when what our flesh would prefer has been offered. But the power of God is better seen in a man who freely gives God his life, than in the man who tries to get whatever he wants in life by massaging Him with praise and worship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

God didn\u2019t give us praise and worship to use as a tool of control against Him as if He were a cobra snake, and we, the charmer<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

listen up<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The power of God is quieter than we think. In I Kings 19<\/strong>, Elijah was given a glimpse of the Lord\u2019s power. Verse 11<\/strong> tells us, \u201cA great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks\u2026and there was an earthquake, but the\u00a0Lord\u00a0was not in the earthquake<\/strong><\/em>\u201d. It’s quite possible that Elijah was surprised by that fact. Perhaps he assumed that God’s power was demonstrated in ways that appeal to our natural senses. But the text goes on to say that God was heard in a “gentle whisper<\/em>” (v.12 -NIV). If we want to experience the power of God, we must be listening for Him rather than trying to get Him to hear us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No matter how loud our praise and worship might be, it doesn’t give God permission to be powerful. He already is<\/em> powerful, which is why He deserves praise and worship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Acts 16 we find Paul & Silas being brought before town officials in Philippi on accusations of troubling the city and teaching unlawful customs. \u201cThen the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded\u00a0them\u00a0to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":15995,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pastors-notes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15988"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16006,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15988\/revisions\/16006"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.jfbduluth.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}