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"Praising the Lord from a Prison Floor" "And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks." (Acts 16;23-24)Things were going along pretty good for the Paul and Silas Evangelistic Team. At Philippi, the Gospel was being preached and folks were getting saved. While there, a young damsel with a spirit of divination, who was being used for gain by her masters, began to follow them around like a pet cat saying, "These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew us the way of salvation." (v.17)This went on for a few days and caused Paul much grief. Why the grief? Because Paul wasn't a compromiser, he knew God's work didn't need the approval of the devil's crowd. Well, Paul took care of that problem and thru the Power of Jesus Christ, he commanded that spirit to come out of her.Now here comes the young girl's masters who could see tomorrow's money going down today's drain. So, they caught hold of Paul and Silas and brought them into the marketplace to stand before the local bigwigs.Long story short, after many accusations and some beatings, Paul and Silas were thrown bag and baggage into prison. With a charge to the jailor to keep a safe eye on them, the jailor went ahead and cast them into the inner prison and for good measure had Paul and Silas' feet shackled.It looked like a bad situation for Paul and Silas, didn't it? Things weren't going the way many would expect it to go. A lot of folks would have gotten all bent out of shape and laid there on the prison floor crying, "Woe is me. Poor me. I wish now I hadn't even got out of bed this morning." But not Paul and Silas. Instead of holding a pity party, they had a prayer and praise party. These two men of God weren't going to allow this bad situation to destroy their faith, their testimony, and their character. Remember folks, this was the same fella who wrote, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28) By the way, look again at that second word in that verse. It says, "And WE know." God put that word WE in there for ME and THEEI Yes, WE who love God KNOW that all things work together for good.Hey, all of us will at one time or another find ourselves in a bad situation and have a few setbacks. Sometimes the situations are caused by our own stupid actions, and other times the situations are brought about by the actions of others.You and I will have days when the sun of prosperity shines on us and we will also have days when the rains of problems will fall. But whatever the day may bring friends, let's not let the bad situations get worse by not doing what's right.Friends, don't allow situations to overcome you by giving in to complaining and griping. Rather, when you and I overcome those times with prayer and praise; then like ole Paul and Silas saw that night, we too shall see those prison doors open and that bad situation change for the Glory of God.