from midnight to victory by bro. effiong tom

FROM MIDNIGHT TO

VICTORY

THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, SANGOTEDO

BRO. EFFIONG TOM

Introduction

In the word of God, midnight could

represent the concept of intense

darkness or even gloom.

However, MIDNIGHT usually meant

halfway between dark and the breaking of

the light or the middle-point of the night

before the light could break through.

Introduction

Our praise invites God’s power into our lives.

It was dark in there, but they were surrounded with an audience and so they started preaching. They started singing. They started praising God.

You know, when you're in trouble, people especially watch you then. And what did they hear? Did they hear complaints? James five says, “Is any afflicted, let him” what? “Let him pray.”

And Psalm 119, verse 62 says, “At midnight I will rise to give thanks to Thee.” At midnight. Now Paul and Silas were there at midnight. They had this captive audience, so they raised their voices in prayer and singing.

Midnight PraiseAnd praise opens closed doors. Here

they were singing in jail. You're going to

see this in the next verse. It brought the

house down.

Look at verse 25. “About midnight Paul

and Silas were praying, and they were

singing hymns to God and the other

prisoners were listening to them.”

Midnight Praise (cont’d)

You know, men/women who sing at

midnight, cannot be imprisoned.

If you sing at midnight, you can’t be

imprisoned.

Why could they sing?

Prison is not a place for singing.

But I doubt that anyone ever heard this

particular sound before.

There, in the middle of the night, in the

pitch dark, Paul and Silas sang praises to

the Lord.

This unusual sound caught the attention

of every other person in that jail - the

other prisoners, and the jail keeper too.

They knew there was something different

about these two prisoners, because they

praised their God in the middle of their

trouble.


We may wonder how Paul and Silas

could sing at a time like that. Didn’t they

know they were unfairly chained up in a

prison cell? Paul and Silas could praise

God because they were filled with faith

and with the Holy Spirit (Acts 11:24).

“Faith is being sure of what we hope for.

It is being certain of what we do not see.”

(Hebrews 11:1)


Paul and Silas were SURE that God had

not forgotten them. They were CERTAIN

that God would not allow anything that

was not BEST for them.

And they were filled with the Holy Spirit. One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is joy (Galatians 5:22).

Please notice that I did not say “happiness.” Joy is different than happiness.


Happiness comes when things are good around you - like when you get a birthday present, or you hit a surprise, Joy comes when things are right on the inside - it is the inner gladness and peace you have because you believe in Jesus.

Joy doesn’t change when our circumstances change. Joy is deep down inside of us. Out of their joy, given by the Holy Spirit, Paul and Silas praised the Lord.


We should praise God in good times and in bad

(James 5:13).

Praising God is proclaiming His greatness. His

greatness never changes - even when our

circumstances do.

When you are in a difficult situation and you

don’t feel like praising God, that is the

PERFECT time to do it! As we are about to see,

our praise invites God’s power into our lives

(Psalm 50:23, 2 Chronicles 20).


Psalm 22:3 says that God comes to stay

where His people praise Him. “Yet You

are enthroned as the Holy One; You are

the praise of Israel.”

Psalm 119:62

we are reminded of Psalm 119:62 which

says, “At midnight I will rise to give

thanks to You, because of Your righteous

judgments”.


This is a time in the Body of Christ when

we need the Lord to deal with our

enemies that are trying to keep us from

entering into His perfect plan for our life,

family, and nation.

The midnight hour was a time for

thanksgiving and of visitation.

This is also a key time for a redemptive

shift to occur in your life.

Exodus 11:4, 12:29.

The midnight hour was the time that the

children of Israel broke through to their

great deliverance.

(At midnight the Lord struck down all the

firstborn in the land of Egypt, creating their

release out of captivity.)

This is a great time of pressing through.

Midnight is the time for us to praise and

press the enemy and arrest His movement.

Matthew 25:1-13.

” Are you prepared? Have you trimmed

away what would prevent you from going

into the new? Are you ready to advance

quickly and gain momentum as you go?

Mark 13, especially verses 32-35. “Watch

ye therefore: for ye know not when the

master of the house cometh, at even, or

at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in

the morning!” Ask the Lord to fully define

the places that He is calling you to watch.

To Victory (Vv. 26-34)Notice that it was while the two men were

singing praises, that the ground started to move. God shook the earth on behalf of those He wanted to save! Chains fell to the ground, and heavy doors swung open.

How do you react to hard times, or unfair treatment? Do those around you hear you complain like everybody else? Or do they hear you pray and praise God?

Even though Paul and Silas were treated most unfairly, because of the joy of the Holy Spirit inside them, they praised God instead.

Paul and Silas weren’t singing in church, they were singing in the darkest place. As a result, the other people in that dark place heard their praise; they heard the truth about the mighty, living God.

"At Midnight"

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.

from midnight to victory by bro. effiong tom

Spiritual