Shaken, not Stirred (sorry, I couldn't resist!)

As we continue in our journey here at Beulah of prayer and fasting during the month of January, I came across this from a book called Ever Increasing Faith by Smith Wigglesworth.

“Note the words of Acts 4:31, ‘And when they had prayed, the place was shaken.’ There are many churches where they never pray the kind of prayer that you read of here. A church that does not know how to pray and to shout will never be shaken. If you attend a place like that you may as well write ‘Ichabod—the glory of the Lord has departed,’ over the threshold. It is only when men have learned the secret of prayer, of power, and of praise, that God comes forth. Some people say, ‘Well, I praise God inwardly,’ but if there is an abundance of praise in your heart, your mouth cannot help speaking it.”
Seems to me like Smith is on to something here…there is great power in our prayer and our praise, when done correctly for the glory of God. My hope is that everyone at Beulah might truly learn the secret of prayer, power, and praise and we might be shaken…not for the sake of being shaken, but for the end result: “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and bravely spoke God’s message.”