An incredible story out of North Carolina arguably displays the power of worship. As they do every year, in 2019 the Floyd family headed to Holden Beach with family and friends to celebrate the fourth of July. But their annual visit took a dramatic change when they noticed the body of their 12-year-old son, Levi, floating motionless in the water.

When their son’s lifeless body was dragged out of the water, he had no pulse. Leah, who is a member of the family and a nurse, immediately began performing CPR. She was quickly joined by two other nurses at the beach, and they rotated in giving CPR and performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

But because nothing was happening, Leah believed there was no hope. Levi was dead.

As the rest of the family stood by praying, things dramatically changed when Levi’s sister Lily started singing a worship song, “The King is alive.”

In the interview with The 700 Club, Levi’s mother, Lindsey, described what happened next as the whole family joined in singing the song:

“It was like an electric current from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head. I’ll never, ever forget it, and I said ‘Worship louder, babies, sing louder. Worship Him as loud as you can.’ And they just lifted up this chorus and sang with everything they had.”

Moments later someone cried out that Levi had a pulse. Still unconscious, Levi was rushed to the hospital by ambulance and when they arrived doctors were very concerned about possible brain damage.

But as medical staff moved Levi from the ambulance gurney to a hospital bed, he suddenly woke up saying, “Hey momma.”

Levi was completely fine and the family believes that worship effected a miracle.

The Bible tells us that God inhabits, literally the word is enthroned, in the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). God’s presence is revealed in worship.

Now, it’s easy to worship God when everything is going fine, but worship’s true power is displayed when we do it during times of trials and testing. At these moments we are worshipping because He is God of heaven and earth.

This is literally what Job did. We are told after Job had seen his wealth plundered and children killed, that he turned to God in worship (Job 1:20-21).

In the midst of this horrific trial, Job confessed, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.”

Job was not worshipping because of what the Lord had done for him, but because of who God truly is. The ancient patriarch was worshipping in spirit and truth (John 4:24).

And similar to what happened with Levi, we see worship’s power on display in several difficult situations in the Bible:

PROTECTION: After they were arrested in Philippi for delivering a female slave from a demonic spirit, that her owners were using for fortune telling, Paul and Silas started singing hymns to God.

Luke explained what happened next:

²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶ Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. (Acts 16:25-26 NIV)

DELIVERANCE: When King Saul was being tormented by an evil Spirit (1 Samuel 16:14), his advisors brought in David, a renown musician, and had him play a harp when evil spirit attacked. As soon as David played, the harmful spirit departed leaving Saul refreshed (1 Samuel 16:23).

WARFARE: When King Jehoshaphat of Judah was being attacked by Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, he received a prophetic word that this was the Lord’s battle. The next morning the king sent the Temple’s praise and worship teams in front of the army. The worship caused confusion in the enemy’s ranks so that they ended up fighting each other (2 Chronicles 20:22-23).

HEALING: When Hannah was struggling because of her inability to conceive a child, the Bible reports that after she and her husband worshipped God, Hanna became pregnant and gave birth to one of the great prophets of the Bible, Samuel (1 Samuel 1:19).

There is power in praise and worship.

READ: Girl Responds In Worship Before Her 12-Year-Old Brother’s Lifeless Body