Acts 16:25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
Acts 20:7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
Have we become the Sunday "day time church" in these latter days? It seems that attendance in night times of worship have diminished in many churches. Some have gone to having one service a week or one long service of celebration. While this may be good for the time limitations and schedules of many it cannot substitute for corporate gatherings that bring us together to worship the Lord during the night seasons. I understand that God can be worshipped morning, noon or night. For some, however, it is noted that the night time is a difficult time - in various ways.
For those who have been diagnosed as depressed, with panic problems or other types of so-called "mental" problems, night time seems to be the intensifying of those problems. So the doctor prescribes a pill that will bring on the drowsiness and the six to eight hours of sleep. When the person awakes, what then? For those who know God almighty, there is no greater time to pray, praise and worship Him than at night, even midnight or the early morning hours. No doubt, Paul and Silas had read the Psalm which says, "At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments." (Psalms 119:62) It did not matter that they were in a stinking prison where the thieves, murders and criminals were. They were seeking the Lord and singing praise to Him. Many of those in the prison came to know Jesus after the prayer, praise and worship of God, when the prison was shaken and the doors were opened. The jailor and his family were among those who came to know Jesus as their Savior. Don't we need a move of God like that in our nation, states, counties and cities?
Yet, this nation is more anxious and panicky over the stock market and the economy than they are over the need to repent and seek the Lord and the "church" rides that long black train as well. Perhaps it will take some type of "prison" for the church to realize how much we need to pray, praise and worship the Lord. It would do us well to remember the words of the Lord to Laodicea, "thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. . .As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent." (Revelation 3:17 & 19) How much more rebuke and chastening will it take?
What about the night? God has no problem with the darkness of the night. "Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee." (Psalms 139:12) What He has a problem with is a church or person who is bound by the ways of the humanistic, secular time restraints that will crowd Him out of their lives. The Apostle Paul was not bound by time restraints that kept him from praying, praising, preaching, teaching and worshipping God. Yes, there are some who are radical and ridiculous about taking time and being "in front." But what about true worship? Yes, we should worship at home with family and, at times, in private worship but what about corporate times of worship? If we give .02 percent of 168 hours in the week, that would be about 3.5 hours. That is a very low number for assembling together corporately in a local church. Yet, it seems that we "cry for more time with family, jobs, or whatever it is we are doing. I wonder how much "entertainment" time (TV, games, sports, etc. etc.) we give each week? Sure, we can't seperate our daily responsibilities as a type of worship to God as long as they are priorities in His sight. I believe the perilous times we are in requires more coming together than we want to give.
The Psalmist wrote, "Behold, bless ye the LORD, all ye servants of the LORD, which by night stand in the house of the LORD." (Psalms 134:1) Where are those servants who stand in the house of the Lord by night? As a younger man, I remember anticipating and expecting great times in the Lord when we had Sunday evening services or revivals . At times, we were there until 11 pm, midnight, and sometimes, even after midnight, praying, praising, worshipping God almighty. God was worshipped, people were saved, filled with the Spirit and delivered from bondage. The next morning, I would be refreshed (with four or five hours of physical sleep) and ready to put in an eight or ten hour day of work. Some would leave early from the meeting, and there would be no judgmentalism about that. God knows our limitations and He knows our laxness as well. Where is the dedication to God? Where is the commitment to God?
Now, we say, "we need family time or we need to be at home on Sunday night." I know scheduled service times can be tradition laden, but we best beware and not take God's corporate study time, prayer, praise and worship time, lest we sleep a sleep of spiritual death. Yes, Paul was giving his farewell message that late evening and continued long into the night, but one has to wonder, what time did the meeting start? Did they come together later at night because of persecution factors? Did they start the meeting about "dark-thirty?" Did the meeting start earlier in the afternoon or around the sixth watch or ninth watch? That is not clear. What is clear, is that God's presence was active and mighty among them. Follow the reading from Acts 20:7, verse 8-12. "And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together. And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him. When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed. And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted." If he fell from the third loft, that could have been about 20 to 30 feet that he fell. God was present and he manifested in the healing of this young man, at mignight. Then they tarried and fellowshipped with sweet communion until daylight dawned. We need to cry out to God in the night seasons. "I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons." (Psalms 16:7) Where are we "church?" What are we doing "church?"
There will be a cry one day and it will catch many sleeping the spiritual death. "And at midnight (symbolic of an hour when many are sleeping) there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him." (Matthew 25:6) "Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober." (1Thessalonians 5:6) Yes, I want to sleep, at times, when he gives me sleep in the natural, for he "giveth his beloved sleep." (Psalms 127:2) But I want to be AWAKE in the Spirit and sometimes that means we are "by night, standing in the house of the Lord, or "arising at midnight to praise him," or "being in a service which tarries for late hours."
O MIGHTY GOD HELP US TO MAKE TIMES TO STUDY YOUR WORD, PRAY, PRAISE AND WORSHIP YOU IN OUR CORPORATE GATHERINGS! AMEN! AND AMEN!
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