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PRAYING AND SINGING HYMNS (ACTS 16:16-39)

REFLECTION
The theme for our reflection is praying and singing hymns. Prayer is a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God. A hymn on the other hand, is a religious song or poem of praise to God. We shall reflect on the fact that praying and singing hymns are ways of manifesting our faith in God in the face of adversity or challenges.

Beloved in the Lord, during their missionary journey, Paul and Silas were arrested in Philippi because Paul had prayed for the deliverance of a girl from an unclean spirit that kept exposing their identity through fortune-telling. “When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities…The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. ²³ After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. ²⁴ When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. ²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶ 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 16:19, 22-26). Unlike many of us who would demonstrate signs of despair, frustration and anxiety in the midst of calamities or challenges, Paul and Silas have taught us to remain steadfast and resilient through the spiritual exercise of prayer and singing of hymns, especially in the face of adversities and persecution.

St Augustine said he or she who sings prays twice. It means that singing in itself is a means of praying to God coupled with the words that accompany it. Our hymns enable us to pray effortlessly even as we praise God. It is instructive to draw inspiration from one of our popular song in Ewe that tells us the importance of singing hymns and spiritual songs to the glory of God. It is entitled “Hadzidi Nugae”

Hadzidzi nugae, nuga ŋutɔ wonye
Nyeya madzi ha, seɖe sime maku
Amesi menya hadzidzi o la
Baba ko woado nɛ.

Hadzidzi, nuga ŋutɔ wonye
O! hadzidzi nuga ŋutɔ wonye
Dɔyɔyɔ l’eme, agbe gbɔgbɔ l’eme
Madzi ha ɖaa, seɖe sime maku
Fisiafi mele, makɔ nye gbe dzi
Adzi ha na nye Mawu.

English Translation (Summary):
Singing is great,
I shall sing, until my last breath.
There’s healing and revival in songs,
The fellow who does not know how to sing ought to be pitied.
I will sing praises to God, wherever I am.

Beloved in the Lord, like Paul and Silas, we can also invoke the power of God to cause liberation and deliverance through prayer and singing of hymns in our lives. To prove that songs sung to praise God can cause us to experience His power and glory, we are told in Joshua 6:20 that the walls of Jericho were destroyed through the power of music, thus, “When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.” (Joshua 6:20) Let us demonstrate our faith through praying and singing our hymns, especially when we are greatly afflicted with life’s issues and uncertainties. Instead of roaming about wailing and complaining to people who may not be able to help you in your affliction, I encourage you to pray and sing hymns to the Lord. We are greatly encouraged to join other faithful believers to pray and sing hymns to the Lord, believing that God is moving and shaking the foundations of our challenges and that very soon any impediment or any thing causing us pain and disappointment shall be broken. We must be mindful not to merely pray and sing hymns as an expression of our melancholic emotions. Our prayer and singing of hymns must be borne out of faith or total trust and reliance on the deliverance or redemptive power of God.

In summary, we have discovered that praying and singing hymns are ways of manifesting our faith in God in the face of adversity or challenges. May the Holy Spirit empower us to pray and sing hymns without ceasing even as we experience the power and glory of God in our lives.

PRAYER
Holy Spirit, grant and sustain us with the power and gift of prayer and singing of hymns. Amen.