Today, we want to look at “SOME BENEFITS OF MINISTERING TO THE LORD!”
1. It allows the Holy Spirit to speak to us so as to provide direction (Acts 13:1-3). Do you want to hear His voice? Then, minister to Him.
2. It brings deliverance. In Acts 16, we have the account of Paul and Silas in jail in Philippi (Acts 16:22-24).” Here is what happened: Paul and Silas were arrested, beaten with many stripes, and cast into prison. The jailer was charged to keep them safely.
But notice what Paul and Silas did in the midst of their suffering. Acts 16:25 says, “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.”
Notice that Paul and Silas did not sing praises to minister to one another; rather they sang praises to minister unto God.
Many times, prayer alone is not enough. Notice that after Paul and Silas prayed, they sang praises unto God (Acts 16:25). Anyone can pray when he finds himself in trouble. But it takes a person that is in faith to sing praises, too, in the midnight hour of life. Paul and Silas’ backs were bleeding profusely, and their feet were in stocks. It was a dark and seemingly hopeless situation.
When Paul and Silas sang praises unto God, their backs were still in the same condition as before – bleeding and hurting. Their feet were still in stocks. They were still in the inner prison. It was still midnight. The situation was still bad; it hadn’t changed. They had no sign of help or deliverance from anywhere when they began singing praises to God. I am convinced that if you will quit continuing to pray over and over about the same issue and start praising God instead, it wouldn’t be long until your answers come. It wouldn’t be long before the praises to God would dispel the tests and trials that you are facing.
At midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises. It is praise and worship that get the job done. After they prayed, they did not complain about their situation. Rather they started praising God.
If you are going to complain about your circumstances, you are not going to receive anything from God or get any results in prayer. Complaining is a sign of doubt and unbelief.
When you pray and really believe that God has heard you and that it is done, you enter into His rest (Heb 4:3). Then you can sing praises to God. The believing prayer is the prayer that God hears and answers. In Matthew 21:22 Jesus said, “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, BELIEVING, ye shall receive.”
In Acts 16:25 I know that Paul and Silas believed God – they were in faith. They prayed about their situation, they believed God; they entered His rest, and because they entered His rest, they sang praises unto God. Hallelujah! Paul and Silas were singing praises to God because they were in faith. That was their faith in action.
Now, notice something else. Acts 16:25 says, “…Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and THE PRISONERS HEARD THEM.” Paul and Silas weren’t praising God quietly. If they hadn’t sung out their praises, then the prisoners wouldn’t have heard them. In other words, Paul and Silas didn’t pray and sing quietly.
Acts 16:25 does not say what Paul and Silas prayed about. But I believe that they were just praying and thanking God for the privilege to suffer for His Name. They were ministering to the Lord.
In their prayer, they were praising and thanking God. And as they did, not only did the prisoners hear them, but God heard them, and they were delivered. Acts 16:26 says, “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.”
Notice that the deliverance did not come while they were praying. It came while they were praising God. For it says, “…Paul and Silas prayed, AND sang praises unto God…And suddenly there was a great earthquake…” (Acts 16:25-26).
We too can do as Paul and Silas did, in the “midnight hour” of our lives, when the storms of life come, and we don’t even understand why things have happened as they have when we’ve been trying to do our best.
3. God’s power is manifested when His people praise Him. When we worship God we not only move deeper into His Presence, but we also invite the King of Glory into our midst. His Presence is ushered into a service through worship. When God’s Glory is made manifest, He can touch and heal thousands of people in an instant. Miracles and healings will take place without the laying on of human hands. As the worship of the saints grow purer, more intense and sustained longer, the manifestation and experience of God’s glory will increase in intensity.
Look at 2 Chronicles 20:15-25 as an example. In 2 Chronicles 20, King Jehoshaphat and Judah went out against the enemy, the armies of the Ammonites, Moabites, and the people of mount Seir. Thses enemies of Judah had banded together against Judah. From the natural standpoint, Jehoshaphat didn’t have enough men or an army big or strong enough to withstand these enemy forces.
What did Jehoshaphat do in the presence of this danger? He simply called a prayer meeting. The children of Israel fasted and prayed. The Spirit of God moved upon a young man in the congregation, Jahaziel, and he stood up and prophesied. In 2 Chronicles 20:15-17 God said through Jahaziel, “…Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's. 16 Tomorrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel. 17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.”
The Lord told the people not to have any fear, but to go out against the enemy, for the battle was the Lord’s. So, the following morning the Israelites went out against the enemy and the Bible says that they put the praisers in front (2 Chron 20:21).
The enemy’s armies consisted of trained soldiers with swords, javelins and spears. Yet Jehoshaphat sent out the praisers to go meet them! Jehoshaphat didn’t have a man leading his army with a sword or shield or spear. He only had those who were singing and praising God.
As Jehoshaphat and the children of Israel praised and worshipped God, God fought their battle for them. 2 Chronicles 20: 19-21 says, “And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high. 20 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for His mercy endureth for ever.”
Notice what the children of Israel did. They sang and praised God. They prayed, and sang praises to God, just like Paul and Silas did in Acts 16. The children of Israel said in their song, “….Praise the Lord; for His mercy endureth forever” (2 Chron 20:21).
What happened as the children of Israel began to sing and praise God? This is what happened as a result of the prayer of praise and worship:
2 Chronicles 20:22-25 says, “And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten…”
4. His glory comes down when we worship Him in one accord (in unity; with one mind). In 2 Chronicles 5:11-14 the Bible says, “And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place: (for all the priests that were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course: 12 Also the Levites which were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:) 13 It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers WERE AS ONE, TO MAKE ONE SOUND to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying, For He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; 14 So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.”
Do you want the yokes in your life to be destroyed? Do you want to be an all-round overcomer? Do you want a manifestation of God’s glory? Do you want a manifestation of the miraculous? Do you want to be truly anointed? Do you want rivers of the spirit to be flowing freely in your life? Do you want to escape spiritual drought and barrenness? Do you want to see mountains crumble before you? Do you want to see the Red Sea part before you? Do you want to see demons bow before you? Do you want to have joy, power, and guidance? Then spend quality time ministering unto the Lord in praise and worship. And I guarantee that if you do that, it will not only transform your life, but situations and circumstances will crumble before you. Therefore, learn to minister to the Lord in praise and worship!
Watch out for the next edition of Good News from the Pulpit!
- Your friend: I. I. Madubunyi (Senior Pastor) @ the HQs, July 30th, 2023
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