TODAY’S DEVOTION (THURSDAY 16TH October 2025)
“Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth! Sing out the honor of His name; Make His praise glorious.
Say to God, “How awesome are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power Your enemies shall submit themselves to You. All the earth shall worship You and sing praises to You; They shall sing praises to Your name.” Selah
Come and see the works of God; He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men.” Psalm 66:1-5 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 289th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF VICTORY
Glory be to the LORD God almighty; creator of Heaven and earth for keeping us alive these 280 days. I believe strongly that the remaining days of the year are also covered. He will keep us!
The Bible says, “Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth! Sing out the honor of His name; Make His praise glorious.” This is the time of the year to lead a thankful life. I hope we can all do it and stop fixing our hearts on our problems.
The word of the LORD further says,
“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”
Hallelujah!! What a faith position to take at this time of the year.
The scripture made it clear that if we give God thanks in everything, everything will be fine. That is why it’s difficult to give thanks and joy in the God of our salvation in difficult times. When it is not favorable to give thanks and joy in the God of our salvation, and we summon the faith to do it, thanksgiving and praise becomes a weapon of war, bringing victory.
Thanking God and Praising Him is one way we appreciate and then affirm His works. It’s one way we declare His works in our lives and the lives of others. That is why when GOD is praised, the earth yields her increase. It is what makes praise and thanksgiving a catalyst of supernatural increase.
I BELIEVE IF WE ALL LIVE A PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING LIFE, WE CAN CREATE SOMETHING IN THE SPIRIT REALM THAT WILL BRING US INCREASE.
Praising and thanking God, either through singing or praying, has a way of increasing the presence of God in our lives, thereby bringing about other forms of increase; especially increase of prosperity, peace, progress, success, and all that we need to be what God has created us to be!
Understand that when we make His praise glorious, it makes our lives glorious.
You make His praise glorious when you praise Him in Holiness, sometimes sacrificially like Paul and Silas did in prison. Those men where in a very terrible situation – a situation that preaching the gospel brought them into. But they did not table their problem to God. They tabled their praise to Him.
Sometimes it is more productive if we table our praise and thanksgiving to God when we need to table our problems to Him.
We have been taught to tell it to Jesus, which is very good and result oriented. But we can also build our faith with these words: “sing praise and thanksgiving to Jesus, when you have something to tell Him.”
In that way, you may end up not having something to tell Him, because He will deal with it. He will move the way His presence moved in the prison yard and ended up saving an entire family from eternal damnation. You will see God’s presence breaking out like never before.
Someone reading this may have spent enough time, tabling his or her problems to GOD. It’s time to start tabling your praise to God. Most times when we table our problems to God things remain unchangeable. But when we table our praise to God they change.
That was how Paul and Silas changed their situation, though they were not singing with the aim of coming out of the prison. They were just singing because of what Jesus said many years before that day.
Years before that day Jesus sat on a mountain and taught what we now know to be the beatitudes. Part of what He said reads:
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:10-12 NKJV
PAUL AND SILAS OBVIOUSLY HAD KNOWLEDGE OF THIS SCRIPTURE AND DECIDED TO MAKE IT REAL IN THEIR LIVES.
They quickly followed it by singing hymns while in prison. We can only imagine what hymn they sang, they did not play drums, keyboard, blow a trumpet or make music with the best instruments.
They just sang with their hearts, and the rhythm in their hearts got to God and the presence of God broke out unexpectedly. God expects us to do the same. To sing with our lips and let the rhythm in our hearts reach His throne.
Sometimes instruments do not let that happen. The beautiful beats just stir the flesh, resulting in some form of happiness and joy, but the heart is producing no rhythm to the LORD.
Understand that we do not always need musical instruments for God’s presence to break out when we sing. The rhythm of the heart is enough for the LORD. That rhythm is called “rejoice.” Paul and Silas never had instruments but the rhythm of the heart. They simply rejoiced and were exceedingly glad for the great reward awaiting them in Heaven, and God saw it and broke out.
They rejoiced by singing Hymns; but they did not know that in doing so, they were tabling their praise to God instead of their problem. Ordinarily, they should have just sent prayers to God to let Him know what they were going through. But they did not.
However, the result was awesome; their earth yielded her increase and power came down. The Bible says:
“And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
But at midnight Paul and 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’s chains were loosed.
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, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.” Acts 16:23-28 NKJV
THIS SCRIPTURE TEACHES THE POWER OF TABLING OUR PRAISE TO GOD.
When we table our problems to God, the God of peace will guard our hearts. But when we table our praise to God the God of peace will invade our lives with the greatness of His power. May God teach us to table our praise to Him especially in difficult circumstances like what Paul and Silas faced!
One of the major truths to glean from this story is this; they did not just sing to God to change their situation. They sang in obedience to the word. They word said whenever believers face what they faced, we should rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and the way they choose to obey that word was to sing hymns to God.
In simple terms, they applied the word to their woe, and their woe experienced the wonders of God’s presence. The wonderful power of God came down and broke down the prison leading to the salvation of Souls and their subsequent release from prison.
In simple terms, God carried out a prison break for them, but not for them to escape because they were not criminals. He did that to make men submit to Him, and it happened. An entire household gave their lives to Christ. The Bible says:
“Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.
Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.” Acts 16:29-34 NKJV
The next people to submit to God were the authorities that got them locked up unjustly in prison. The Bible says;
“And when it was day, the magistrates sent the officers, saying, “Let those men go.” So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Now therefore depart, and go in peace.”
But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out.”
And the officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans. Then they came and pleaded with them and brought them out, and asked them to depart from the city.” Acts 16:35-39 NKJV
This scripture has a lot to teach us. One major truth we can glean from it is this; when we table our praise to God, His power will come down. When His power comes down, His enemies will submit to Him, thereby freeing us from their captivity.
BUT AS EARLIER STATED, PAUL AND SILAS DID NOT SING THEIR HYMN BECAUSE THEY WANTED GOD TO BRING THEM OUT.
They sang because they were applying the word of God to their situation. Each time we face an unpleasant situation, we have a Choice to either apply the WORD of God or our WORRY to the situation. Paul and Silas decided to apply the word of God not their worry, and Heaven responded with great power.
A major highlight in our devotional text today says;
Say to God, “How awesome are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power Your enemies shall submit themselves to You. All the earth shall worship You and sing praises to You; They shall sing praises to Your name.” Selah
Come and see the works of God; He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men”
If we want to see the greatness of God’s power breaking out on us to make His enemies submit to Him and change our circumstances, we must learn to apply HIS WORD to our woes not OUR WORRIES. If we apply our worries, our woes will increase. But if we apply His WORD, His WORKS will break out and swallow our WOES. That is the secret!
I believe the message of our devotional for the day has been passed!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU THIS MORNING!
“And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they in closed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.
And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.” Luke 5:5-7 NKJV
