Act 12:5 Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.
Picture, if you will, what steps the church today would use to handle Peter’s case. Perhaps they would hire a lawyer, write letters, or make petitions. In prison, Peter was guarded by 4 squads of soldiers (vs. 4). It was practically impossible to get him out. At the same time, persecution was rising and James had been killed. Peter was surely next. The first line of defense the church took was not to strategize how to get Peter out of jail. The church knew the right thing to do was to pray without ceasing to get Peter through this difficult situation.
The people in the church probably prayed specific prayers, possibly asking for Peter’s release or that God would be glorified and Satan’s purposes defeated. The death of James alarmed them to a greater fervency in their prayers.
“Up in a little town in Maine, things were pretty dead some years ago. The churches were not accomplishing anything. There were a few Godly men in the churches, and they said: ‘Here we are, only uneducated laymen; but something must be done in this town. Let us form a praying band. We will all center our prayers on one man… They picked out one of the hardest men in town, a hopeless drunkard, and centered all their prayers upon him. In a week, he was converted….Then they took up another and another, until within a year, two or three hundred were brought to God, … Definite prayer for those in the prison house of sin is the need of the hour.” Dr. R.A. Torrey.
We have the greatest weapon at our disposal, lets make use of it.
2 replies on “Greatest Weapon At Our Disposal”
The story of Maine is a great example of the power of prayer. Indeed prayer moves mountains.
It does, now if individuals and the church as a whole would respond to God’s call, I believe we would see revival through the move of God.