Understanding the Anointingwith ONE ACCORD, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast
made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is.
There's that "one accord" business again. They (plural)—all
of them—lifted up their voices. We have a record of the prayer
they prayed. I know they didn't all say the same words, but the
Holy Spirit is inspiring Luke to write, and He is giving us what
God heard.
The Effects of Praise
Notice when they lifted up their voices with one accord, the
first thing they said was, "Lord, thou art God" (v. 24). They
were magnifying Him as God. And when they had prayed, the
place was shaken. That prayer brought forth a manifestation of
God's glory, of God's power, of the anointing, of the Holy Spirit
power. The place was shaken—not just the people. The house
shook.
Some people get excited because the Holy Spirit moves on
people and they shake sometimes, or even fall under the power.
But wait until the buildings start shaking! The place was shaken
where they were assembled together, and they were all filled
with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God with boldness.
In the 16th chapter of Acts, Paul and Silas had been beaten.
Their backs were bleeding. They were thrust into the innermost
prison. Their feet were in stocks. And at midnight, Paul and
Silas prayed.
A lot of times people have prayed and prayed and prayed—
and I've seen people go down praying. But sometimes you need
to "pray AND...."
Paul and Silas didn't just pray; they prayed AND. They
prayed AND sang praises unto God. They were doing it out loud,
because all the prisoners heard them. Remember in Psalm 22:3 it
says that God inhabits the praises of Israel. He's the same God
now that He was then. He hasn't changed one iota.
God came down and inhabited the praises of Paul and Silas,
and shook that old jail until every door flew open and the stocks