Acts 11 - 12

Pray And Believe

Acts 12 tells a story about Peter and the believers in Jerusalem that bears a great similarity to believers today. King Herod, because of his favorable treatment of and respect from the Jewish religious leaders, attempts to provoke even more favor by starting a harsh persecution of the nascent Christian community in Jerusalem.  He has James, John's brother and one of the first apostles, killed.  He also arrests Peter and imprisons him (v. 3).

This causes great angst among the Christian believers and they begin to earnestly pray for Peter (v. 5).  The Bible does not state exactly how, or for what, they were praying in regards to Peter, just that they were praying. Peter is heavily guarded by four units of four soldiers each.  While in his cell, he is shackled to two different guards (v.6). While sleeping, an angel awakens Peter, dissolves the shackles and walks him out of the prison past the guards and into the city streets (vs. 8-11).  Even Peter is surprised at his freedom since at first he thought he was seeing a vision (v. 9). He comes to his senses and heads straight to Mary's, the mother of John Mark, house and knocks on the gate (v. 12).

A young servant girl, Rhoda, hears the knocking and determines from his voice that it is Peter (v. 14) and is so overjoyed she runs to tell the others and forgets to open the gate.  The Bible states that the people were praying (v.12), undoubtedly for Peter. However, when Rhoda tells them Peter is outside, they do not believe her! Some accuse her of being "out of her mind" (v. 15); others insist it is Peter's angel (v. 15). The point is that they do not believe that Peter is there.  Even when they open the door, they are amazed (v. 16).

This story is typical of today's believers (myself included). We pray, but we do not believe.  We ask God for something - healing, deliverance, salvation of a loved one, financial relief, etc. but then are amazed and disbelieving when He answers our prayer. No wonder Jesus admonished the disciples so often about their lack of faith. The lesson is to pray AND believe what we are praying for will come to pass.  Then instead of wasting time standing around in amazement, we should be giving glory to Jesus for answering our prayers. Lord help our unbelief - give us faith to believe You.

May God bless you and bless the reading of His Word.