After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. They were bold when they spoke God’s word. Acts 4:31
When our team began to look at the theme for this year’s VBS, we were inspired by stories from the book of Acts, especially stories where God’s power shakes and transforms someone so boldly, that other lives are shaken, too. When the disciples met together in the Upper Room, the Holy Spirit showed up so powerfully that the crowd below couldn’t help but be perplexed and amazed at what they were hearing. Peter preached the world’s best sermon, 3,000 people were saved, and so began the Church. Paul and Silas were chained in prison, but all-the-while singing psalms of praise to God. Suddenly the ground beneath their feet shook, their chains fell off, and they escaped. God’s power not only changed their situation, but transformed the life of the jailer and his family as he saw God’s might with his own eyes.
Countless stories from the book of Acts show the ripple effect of the Holy Spirit with amazing clarity. The early Church spread like wildfire because God’s people allowed His story of restoration and redemption to be told through their lives, and others were subsequently changed. The book of Acts concludes with chapter 28, but I would dare to say that it, in fact, never ends. What if we, as the modern-day church, lived as if our lives were writing chapter 29 and beyond? What if we prayed like the disciples did in chapter 4? What if God’s Spirit shook us to the core and emboldened us to proclaim the Truth boldly and with no compromise? May it be so...
My prayer for this song is of course for kids, parents, and churches alike to have fun with it, to rock the house with it, and for more than a dozen people to download it off iTunes. But every time I sing it, I ask God to shake me from my comfort zone, to move me toward His purpose, and to transform my life in such a way that others around me take notice, for His glory. Amen.
Two men in a prison
Chained and locked and singin’
Jailer watchin’, sleepin’ tight
Suddenly a shaking, doors and chains flew open
Jailer, watchin’, changed his life
They were singin’...
Give it up, we surrender!
Turn it up, even louder!
Live it up, we move and breathe in Him!
Don’t pass it up, the Spirit’s movin’
Stand up, we are choosin’ to let God rock our world and shake it up!
You and me together, all of us forever
Telling His story through our lives
Praying He will shake us, change and rearrange us
To boldly tell the Truth, no compromise
We are singin’...
Give it up, we surrender!
Turn it up, even louder!
Live it up, we move and breathe in Him!
Don’t pass it up, the Spirit’s movin’
Stand up, we are choosin’ to let God rock our world and shake it up!
written by Jenna Kuykendall, Ben Kuykendall, and Jason Hoard
c Yellow Fence Music 2012