Acts 12:5 “Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.”
In Acts 12, the Bible tells us that Herod “stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.” (verse 1) This “vexing” was a serious thing-James was killed, and Herod had set his sights on Peter. Verse 4 says, “He put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him. . . .” Peter had a total of sixteen sets of eyes watching him!
Someone once said, “You can do more than pray after you pray, but you can’t do more than pray before you pray.” In other words, you ought to put feet to your prayers and get going instead of waiting on an answer to drop in your lap; but the first thing you should do is pray! We can see the same truth pictured for us in the story of Peter in Acts 12: making prayer makes a difference.
Acts 12:5 says, “But prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.” Each part of that verse is instructive: without ceasing . . . unto God . . . for him. The church prayed for Peter “without ceasing” because they had a passion for what they were praying about! Peter was destined-in Herod’s eyes-to find the same fate as James (“the sword”), so the need was great and the stakes were high!
All your praying is not public praying or in a group setting, but there is something uniquely powerful about gathering with other Christians to pray about one thing at one certain time. Perhaps your church will have a special time of prayer for revival meetings-that can be wonderful because everyone is passionately praying for the same one thing! These folks made prayer “for him [Peter].”
It may seem obvious, but their prayer was “unto God.” They prayed to the One Who could do something about it! Let’s consider the facts of the story for a moment: Peter had sixteen soldiers assigned to him-perhaps six-hour shifts of four soldiers each day. Do you think that was status quo for every prisoner? I suspect not, simply because of the sheer manpower that would be needed for all the prisoners to have sixteen guards!
So who or what was Herod afraid of? Peter was an “unlearned and ignorant” fisherman, so even a couple of guards could contain him. Do you think he worried about the other disciples? Herod might have viewed the early Christ-followers (“Christians”) as a rogue sect of society, but all of the disciples’ human power could not win. He must have been afraid of the God of Peter. Human power could not win, but God’s power could not lose.
What can you pray for today? Remember that making prayer makes a difference. The God Who helped Peter is the same God we pray to today. “But prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.”
Prayer Requests:
1. Protection and provision for staff
2. Safety for groups driving home from camp tonight and tomorrow
3. Churches traveling to the Ranch from X, Y, and Z
Camp Quotes:
“My weakness is a perfect platform upon which God can show His power.”
-Evangelist Rick Flanders