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The significance of prayer
📖 Acts 16:16-17
Acts 16 - Series 04/Episode 01 - Fri, 17th July 2026 - The significance of prayer - Acts 16:16-40 - EXPERIENCES IN PHILIPPI - Genesis 02:07
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Acts 16:16-18 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. (17) This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, "These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation." (18) And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And he came out that very hour.
We begin the next study of the sixteenth chapter of Acts. A slave girl was set free from an evil spirit. The people of Philippi and their leaders were greatly annoyed with Paul and the team, had them beaten, and thrown into the dungeons. The jailor of the prison was converted and baptised with his family. The leaders of Philippi were confronted with the fact that Paul was a Roman, and they were afraid. Paul and the team moved on to Thessalonica.
This incident with the slave girl begins with Paul and the team going out to pray. Ministry is an outflow of our walk with God. The focus and priority of the team was to be in the presence of God.
_Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being._ We are created out of dust with the infusion of the Spirit of God. Without the indwelling, inflow and inner engagement with the Spirit of God, we are nothing but dust, and we are dead.
When we say we are dust, this does not mean that we are inert and incapable of action. We can accomplish much without God. The building of the Tower of Babel is an example. Genesis 11:3-4 Then they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. (4) And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."
The Lord came to see the tower which men had built. Genesis 11:5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. This was what the Lord said about the effort of man to build the Tower of Babel. Genesis 11:6 And the LORD said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.
What God said seems to be very good about man, so why should God disperse mankind? Genesis 11:9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. It seems as though it was the Lord who separated mankind from one another. The issue here is that mankind had left God out of their lives. They wanted to achieve things on their own, and surely they were capable, but without God, man is only dust, and man is dead.
God is life. Death is from the devil, for he has the power of death. Hebrews 2:14-15 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, (15) and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Man, on his own, without God, becomes an agent of the devil
Man needs to be in a breath-to-breath relationship with God to be alive. One day, death will finally be defeated, and we will always be in a state of life, which is a breath-to-breath relationship with God. I Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. / I Corinthians 15:54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY."
Death will be swallowed up by life, which is with God. Revelation 20:14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. / Revelation 21:4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."
The problem with the Tower of Babel was that man sought to be without God and became a tool of the devil. Without the Spirit of God, dust is only dust, man is dead and a prisoner of the devil. Prayer is primary for us, for we seek to be in a breath-to-breath relationship with God.
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