How God Makes use of Our Prayers to Advance His Gospel
“So Peter was saved in jail, however the church was earnestly praying to God for him… All of the sudden an angel of the Lord appeared and a lightweight shone within the cell. He struck Peter on the aspect and woke him up. ‘Fast, stand up!’ he mentioned, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists… Then Peter got here to himself and mentioned, ‘Now I do know indisputably that the Lord has despatched his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from every part the Jewish folks had been hoping would occur.’” – Acts 12: 5, 7, 11
Within the Ebook of Acts, chapter 12, we discover an incredible instance of the effectiveness and energy of prayer. This chapter encapsulates profound truths concerning the nature of prayer, the power of group, and the supremacy of God.
Peter, who discovered himself behind bars, chained and guarded by 16 troopers, was one of many distinguished apostles of Jesus Christ, belonging to the inside circle of disciples together with James and John. All through his journey and stroll with Christ, Peter had discovered to belief Jesus even within the midst of perplexity and struggling. This identical Peter, who lower off the excessive priest’s servant’s ear to guard and forestall Jesus from being arrested, additionally denied figuring out Jesus after He was taken away by the authorities. However after Peter had seen Christ crucified, buried, risen and acquired the filling of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, he preached the Gospel with boldness, ardour, and love.
The change in Peter was actual as a result of though he’s opposed, falsely accused, and arrested and jailed like his Savior for heralding the Gospel, he doesn’t act like his previous self. He locations his belief in God and refrains from both being silenced, fleeing, or choosing up a sword to battle. His view of God and struggling can be very clear from his writing to the church, notably in 1 Peter 2:21, the place he writes, “for to this you might have been referred to as, as a result of Christ additionally suffered for you, leaving you an instance, so that you just may comply with in his steps.” By willingly enduring struggling for the sake of Christ and to convey the message of salvation to the misplaced, Peter mirrors the sacrificial love demonstrated by Jesus. However this didn’t imply that he and the church didn’t cry out to God for power and open doorways to maintain spreading the Gospel. Peter additionally writes about prayer in 1 Peter 3:12, stating, “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, however the face of the Lord is towards those that do evil.” On this epistle he emphasizes the significance of prayer for believers, highlighting God’s attentiveness to the prayers of the righteous. He obtained to study this from expertise. I guess because the church was praying for him, Peter too was calling out to God.
Even when the person of God is imprisoned and chained behind bars, neither the Phrase of God nor prayer will be chained. In reality, later in the identical chapter, we learn in verse 24, “However the phrase of God continued to unfold and flourish.” This serves as a robust reminder that God’s Phrase is unstoppable, transcending bodily limitations and human limitations. Apostle Paul emphasizes the identical fact when he wrote to Timothy from jail, stating, “Keep in mind Jesus Christ, risen from the useless, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I’m struggling, certain with chains as a prison. However the phrase of God will not be certain!” Regardless of persecution and imprisonment, the message of salvation will proceed to unfold and thrive via His church, right now because it did again then.
The state of affairs seems horrible and hopeless for Peter and the church, as King Herod Agrippa I, a grandson of Herod the Nice had already executed Apostle James the son of Zebedee, and Peter’s destiny seemingly was in his palms, a depraved earthly authority that opposed God. Nonetheless, the response of the early church will not be despair, passivity, or violence, however reasonably earnest prayer. Regardless of the daunting circumstances, the believers flip to God in fervent supplication for Peter’s deliverance from jail and his doubtless dying sentence.
Listed below are a number of classes we will study from this account in Acts:
1. The Energy of Prayer
Prayer will not be merely a non secular ritual however a compelling and effectual technique of communication and communion with God Almighty. The believers understood the importance of looking for God’s face and His intervention in instances of bother. They might have remembered all of the instances they noticed Jesus communion with His Father in heaven and in addition for asking Him for the unimaginable. The church would have remembered His teachings on prayer stating “And no matter you ask in prayer, you’ll obtain, when you have religion” (Matt. 6:13). We too should come to imagine that God desires to listen to from His youngsters and that He goes to work on our behalf (Isaiah 64:4). The prayers of the first-century church weren’t apathetic requests however honest and passionate pleas for God to behave on behalf of Peter and the message of Christ to maintain spreading.
Who do you might have in your life right now that wants your prayers? Is it a member of the family, a good friend, or maybe a co-worker? Belief God’s Phrase and begin speaking to Him on their behalf, for “the prayer of a righteous particular person is highly effective and efficient” (James 5:16).
2. The Significance of Neighborhood
Discover that it was not only one or two folks praying for Peter however the complete church. There may be power in unity, and when believers come collectively in prayer, our collective religion is a drive to be reckoned with. The early church demonstrated solidarity and help for each other in instances of want, setting an instance for us right now in how we should always dedicate ourselves to God and the native church. We’re referred to as to proceed the traditional observe of assembling for the sake of listening to the apostles’ educating and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. We pray in non-public, but in addition in group as exemplified within the guide of Acts:
Acts 1:14 – “All of them joined collectively continually in prayer, together with the ladies and Mary the mom of Jesus, and along with his brothers.”
Acts 2:42 – “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ educating and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
Acts 4:23-24 – “On their launch, Peter and John went again to their very own folks and reported all that the chief monks and the elders had mentioned to them. Once they heard this, they raised their voices collectively in prayer to God.”
Because of this we at Coastal Church have the sample of assembly each Saturday morning for company prayer to hope for each other, different Christians, our metropolis, our nation, and past our borders. Our widespread unity is in Christ and advancing His Gospel as a part of the Physique of Christ. For that to occur, we want the church to be dedicated to diligently practising the non secular self-discipline of earnest and unceasing prayer.
3. Trusting in God’s Sovereignty
Regardless of the seriousness of Peter’s state of affairs, the believers didn’t lose religion in God’s final management over all circumstances. They prayed earnestly, acknowledging God’s energy to intervene of their dire state of affairs. Their belief was not in their very own skills or methods however within the windfall of God. That’s the reason they didn’t make a plan to interrupt him out of jail or put collectively a military with swords and golf equipment to battle their means into the jail to launch Peter, however to hope and imagine that God’s means can be higher than theirs. And positive sufficient, God’s means was significantly better in sending an angel to launch Peter from jail.
I’m wondering if there’s a state of affairs in your life proper now that you’re making an attempt to manage and make occur in your personal knowledge and power, as a substitute of asking God to step and communicate into your unimaginable circumstance, displaying His energy and knowledge. Belief in His sovereignty right now, and take heed to His voice bringing you peace:
“No matter I please, I do, in heaven and on earth, within the seas and all deeps.” (Psalm 135:6)
“I work all issues in line with the counsel of my will.” (Ephesians 1:11)
“Knowledge and may belong to me. I modify instances and seasons; I take away kings and arrange kings.” (Daniel 2:20–21)
“I despatched my angel and struck Herod down, as a result of he didn’t give me glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his final.” (Acts 12:23)
“My Son will reign over the home of Jacob perpetually, and of his kingdom there can be no finish.” (Luke 1:33)
4. Persistence in Prayer
The phrase “earnestly” utilized in verse 15 implies a way of urgency, eagerness and persistence in prayer. The believers didn’t surrender after an informal prayer; they continued to intercede for Peter fervently. They might not cease till they obtained a solution. They could have remembered Jesus’s educating to His disciples by which He instructed them to “Ask and will probably be given to you; search and you can find; knock and the door can be opened to you. For everybody who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door can be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8). This teaches us the significance of perseverance and dedication in prayer, even when solutions appear delayed, unsure, or completely different from what we requested for.
Finally, the story of Peter’s miraculous deliverance from jail serves as a testomony to the faithfulness of God in response to the prayers of His folks. It reaffirms the reality that God hears and solutions the cries of His youngsters, in line with His good will and timing. Nonetheless, it’s important to know that we can’t surrender praying, even when the solutions God offers us are completely different than what we had been anticipating and even heartbreaking. This was the case for the church in Acts, as seen within the martyrdom of Stephen and James for his or her religion. And in the end, in 64 AD, Peter confronted imprisonment once more and was executed, being crucified the other way up.
As we’ve got mirrored on the church’s earnest prayer and Peter’s supernatural jail break, could we be inspired to strategy God with the identical fervor and faithfulness displayed by the early church. Allow us to by no means underestimate the facility of prayer or the power of group in instances of trial. And should we all the time belief within the sovereignty of God, figuring out that He is ready to do immeasurably greater than all we ask or think about. Generally His reply is to open doorways that no man can shut and generally it’s to provide us power and religion to endure the trials of life whereas delighting in God, as Peter encourages us to “rejoice inasmuch as you take part within the sufferings of Christ, so that you could be be overjoyed when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:13).
To conclude this weblog, allow us to flip to the prayer of the Apostle Paul, who not solely endured a lot hardship for preaching the Gospel of Christ but in addition skilled the boundless energy and attain of God in and thru his life, as present in Ephesians 3:
Because of this I kneel earlier than the Father… I pray that out of his wonderful riches he could strengthen you with energy via his Spirit in your inside being, in order that Christ could dwell in your hearts via religion. And I pray that you just, being rooted and established in love, could have energy, along with all of the Lord’s holy folks, to understand how broad and lengthy and excessive and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses information—that you could be be crammed to the measure of all of the fullness of God.
Allow us to pray collectively, looking for God’s power, presence, and like to fill our hearts and empower us to dwell out our religion with boldness and love, simply because the early church did. All for His glory and reward. Amen.
