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“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.” (Acts 16:25-26)

In Acts 16 Paul was joined by Timothy, travelling from town to town, seeing churches strengthened in faith and growing daily in number. They travelled throughout Phrygia and Galatia, to Troas, Samothrace and Neapolis. To Philippi where we find ourselves in the passage read last weekend and the Unleashed Worship of God’s people in Paul and Silas. They unashamedly prayed and sung hymns to God in the context of a prison. Having been stripped and beaten with rods, severely flogged and with their feet fastened in an inner cell. The response was a violent earthquake, with prison doors opened and chains loosed. Following which the jailor asked, “what must I do to be saved” (Acts 16:29) and his whole household was baptized and filled with joy. We can learn such a great deal from this passage but primarily this invitation to be unleashed in our worship. Yes, in the comfortable and easier places but in the difficult and bleaker places too as Jesus Himself joined in hymn singing as He prepared for betrayal, arrest and the agony of crucifixion after the Lord’s Supper in Matthew 26:30 and Mark 14:26. Gavin and Anne Calver write, “To be a church unleashed requires learning to worship no matter how we feel, what is happening, or what could happen…. As we do it, something shifts in us: strength rises, the Spirit empowers, and we are reminded that the Lord Almighty has the victory.” Make unleashed worship a priority for you today.