Episode 87: What Happens at Midnight
There’s an old song with a chorus that says, “Late in the midnight hour, God’s gonna turn it around. He’s gonna work in your favor. He’s gonna turn it around!”
This is so relatable because sometimes it feels like you’re up against the wall with no answer or hope in sight and suddenly God brings the answers seemingly out of nowhere, His presence changes your circumstances.
In Acts 16 we see a “Midnight Hour” story full of twists and turns. Paul and a group of friends (Luke, Silas and possibly Timothy) were bringing the Gospel to a new territory after Paul received a vision from the Lord instructing him to travel to Macedonia (Europe) with the good news. The men he was with trusted this vision and decided to go without question.
MIDNIGHT HOUR TRUTH #1: God will lead you to new and unknown territory for the sake of the gospel.
These men first went to a riverbed and shared the news with a group of women gathering there to pray. The first converts in Europe were women not allowed to learn from the synagogue, but willing to learn from strangers by the river!
MIDNIGHT HOUR TRUTH #2: The enemy stirs when God’s power transforms.
In Acts 16:16-21 we see a slave girl who told fortunes following Paul and the men around shouting! Paul speaks to the demonic forces in her and immediately she is set free, but her slave masters are angry because she is no longer good for profit. Paul and Silas are arrested, beaten, and thrown into a dangerous inner cell of a prison. It’s important to note that when we begin to bring true transformation to areas that are dead or overwhelmed by evil, the enemy will begin to stir against the transformation.
MIDNIGHT HOUR TRUTH #3: God puts us with the right people we need for the territory we’re meant to take.
Although Paul and Silas were in prison, God put them together in prison. God will always give us other like-minded people to take new territory with. He knows this is hard, and He gives us others to help encourage us and curb the severity of what we’re going through. Because they had each other, they were able to begin to focus on what truly mattered and would make the most difference in that region. About the midnight hour, they both began to sing and praise God. All the other prisoners were listening…. This ultimately led to God showing up SUDDENLY and a miraculous earthquake that shook the prison doors open for ALL the prisoners.
MIDNIGHT TRUTH #4: Your praise and belief may be the key to unlocking someone else’s prison.
Everyone was released that night, not just Paul and Silas. This was God’s inclusion plan to help spread the gospel in that region. It’s interesting that God went to the neglected women at a riverbed and the inner cells of a prison to recruit the first converts of Europe.
If we lean into our Midnight Hour time frames rather than running from them, we will see entire regions change, and most importantly, WE change as we trust the one leading us to powerful outcomes.
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