Acts 12
King Herod does not approve of the growing number of believers. He sentences James to death, and arrests Peter for the purposes of suffering a similar fate. The night before his execution, Peter is visited by an angel of the Lord. Despite being heavily guarded and chained, the angel releases him and guides him out of the prison. Peter at first struggles to believe what has just happened, then reality hits and he makes his way to a friendly home full of other believers. He is initially greeted by astonishment and skepticism, but once he recounts his story of escape, the house full of people are ecstatic. Peter knows his presence has put them in danger, so he instructs them to tell his story to others then proceeds to be on his way. Herod is furious and has multiple guards killed because of Peter’s escape. Herod meets his own end at the hands of an angel of the Lord.
Upon Peter’s arrest, verse 5 tells us: “So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.” Verse 15 tells us how the house of believers responds to the servant girl finding Peter at the door: “They said to her, ‘You are out of your mind!’ But she kept insisting that it was so. They kept saying, ‘It is his angel.’ “
When great trouble arises and persists, the church prays fervently. When their prayer is answered, the church doubts. How often do we pray together and genuinely expect God to come through? When presented with a clear act of God, how often are we skeptical and doubt what is clearly in front of us?
Instead, let us move forward together as a community knowing this truth in 1 John 5:14:
“This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”
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