What we can only assume is Herod was at rest knowing there was NO WAY that Peter could escape- but there was one thing Herod didn't count on and it was the power of prayer. Scripture states that while Peter was in prison the "church prayed earnestly". The NIV loses great impact with this context, it is not just a simple prayer that the church- the body of Christ were doing but they united together in prayer and prayed WITHOUT ceasing, never stopping, with great passion and great urgency for Peter. They knew they were powerless, that there was absolutely NOTHING they could do to help Peter, but they knew who could. So they did the greatest thing they could- uniting together in faith they called on God to help Peter and it was in this that God answered, sending an Angel to guide Peter out of jail and back to them.
In life sometimes we are powerless and there is absolutely nothing we can do to help or change the situations in our friends, our family's or our lives but prayer is always the key. Placing your faith in God who can do anything! He alone runs the universe so we must be confident and remind ourselves that if God can run the universe than He can most certainly run our lives.
But sometimes our prayers do not reflect our faith, we lack the passion, we simply just go through the motions and pray what we THINK God wants us to hear instead of praying from our heart. Sometimes we are focused more on the problem or situation instead of God. We see life from a limited viewpoint but God sees the big picture, if we really and truly believe that God can do anything and that He will take care of us, that we trust that His purpose is more important than what we want, then we need to pray with passion. With purpose. And leave the results up to God-trusting He has it all under control. It will be then we will see miraculous and God moving things happen.
I want to challenge each of you to stop praying what you THINK God wants you to pray for and start praying with passion, with great earnest, with your whole heart- allowing God to hear what it is that is on your heart and not what you think God wants to hear from you. Let's stop going through the motions of prayer and unite as one church, one body of Christ and pray for God's movement in this world, for Him to show us exactly where we need to go when we need to be there and allow Him to guide us into the places of the world He needs us most.
Acts 12: 1-19
1 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3 When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.
5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
6 The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.
8 Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. 9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.
11 Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.”
12 When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. 13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”
15 “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”
16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, and then he left for another place.
18 In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. 19 After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed.
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