Prayers are heard in the prison. They are Paul and Silas.
Both of them are in prison under a false accusation. A slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future troubled them for many days. As Paul commanded the spirit to come out of her, the owners of the slave girl seized Paul and Silas and dragged them to face the authorities.
“These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”
When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they gave a plausible reason and branded Paul and Silas as sinners.
The magistrates only heard the owners of the slave girl and punished Paul and Silas without confirming the truth. After they were severely flogged, they were thrown into prison and their feet got fastened in the stocks.
About midnight, Paul and Silas pray and sing hymns to God, and the other prisoners listen to them.
Although Paul and Silas were unfairly treated, they sang hymns to God and experienced surprising things in a row: Suddenly, there was a violent earthquake that all the prison doors flew open and everybody’s chains came loose. With Paul’s preaching, at that hour of the night the jailer got baptized with all his family, realizing the Christ.
When it was daylight, the magistrates heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. Being alarmed, they came to appease them because they had treated them arbitrarily. They escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city.
The ones who never cease to fear God and sing hymns to God under any circumstances are prosperous in their life. When we rejoice and be thankful even during trials, God never fails to make everything go well with us in the end.