Sometimes I wonder about the power of prayer, and then I read Acts 12.
Herod has just killed James, the brother of John. Noticing how pleased the Jews seem with his actions, he goes ahead and arrests Peter in preparation for killing him too. Because its Passover, Herod thinks it will be better to wait until after the weekend to carry out his plan, and so he locks Peter up for the time being.
What comes next in Acts 12 is almost hyperbolic. Peter is put in prison, he is delivered over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, he sleeps between two of the soldiers, he is bound with chains, and sentries guard the prison door. The amount of precautions Herod takes to prevent Peter’s escape or attack seems like something out of a cartoon. Its just feels so over the top. Nevertheless, you know as the reader that there is no way anyone is getting in to grab Peter and there is no way that Peter is getting out.
The Great Escape
But then it begins. An angel of the Lord shows up and a light shines into the cell. The angel strikes Peter on the side and tells him to get up. Peter gets up from between the two soldiers without waking them and the chains around his hands miraculously fall to the ground. He quietly gets dressed, gets some sandals on, and starts following the angel out of the cell. They sneak past the first guard successfully, and then they sneak past the second. Finally, they arrive at the iron gate leading into the city, and to quote Luke, the gate opens for them “of its own accord” (Acts 12.10). And with that, like a scene out of Shawshank Redemption, Peter is free! He heads to Mary’s house and the story continues on from there.
What an incredible scene! All those barriers to keep Peter securely inside of his cell, and somehow, with the help of an angel, he overcomes all of them. Of course, the ‘somehow’ is not really a ‘somehow.’ God is how. If you made it this far in the book of Acts, you know that God has been doing miracle after miracle in and through this early church. It is not all that surprising that now He springs Peter from prison. And yet, there is something else at work in this scene, that can easily go unnoticed.
The Praying Church
Back it up to verse 5. Luke is telling the reader about all about Peter’s arrest, and he includes this little, but substantial detail, “But earnest prayer for him was made to God by the Church” (Acts 12.5).
Now, why include a detail about prayer in a story about God’s wonder working, prison escaping power? Well, maybe because the two are connected. Maybe because this story is about something more than simply a display of God’s power. Maybe it is a story about the power of a praying church and God powerfully acting in response to those prayers.
I say maybe, but I don’t mean maybe. This is a story about the power of prayer. Peter is imprisoned, chained, guarded, and then the Church prays, and all of the walls between him and the outside world fall down. That is the order of events. Would Peter have been released if the church wasn’t praying? Who knows. All we know is that that were praying and God did something miraculous in response to their prayers. And what else does the church need to know then that?
The Power of Earnest Prayer
The reality put forth by Acts 12 is that when the church prays and prays earnestly, she can be confident that God both hears those prayers and will answer those prayers. Of course sometimes He may answer in ways we were not necessarily wanting, but other times He may answer in ways far beyond what we were expecting.
Remember Church, you are praying to an all-powerful God. So don’t underestimate the power of earnest prayer.