Today’s Reading: Exodus 39; Exodus 40; Psalm 15; Acts 12
Scripture: Acts 12:5, 7, 9, 12-16
5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him... 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... 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. 12 ...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 girl 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.
Observation: The church was praying for Peter, but when he was set free by the angel, they didn't believe it, in fact they were totally shocked that Peter was there. This clearly shows that though they were praying, they did not have faith that God would actually save Peter. Their's was a faithless prayer, but God answered it anyway.
Application: I have heard Christians give formulas for getting God to answer prayer. Everything from getting two people to agree, to laying on of hands; saying certain phrases like, "in the name of Jesus," and even reminding God that what is being prayed for is assured in the Bible. The truth is, approaching prayer that way reduces those things to gimmicks. But here we see an answered prayer where even those who prayed it did not expect it to be answered. Wow! What this says to me is that God is faithful to answer any prayer that will bring about his perfect will, and, of course, we don't really know just what that might be at any given moment. So just pray and ask God. He might just give you an answer that you don't expect.
Prayer: Thank you, Lord that you are good and that you take good care of us. Help us to continue to pray, and leave the rest up to you.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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