"Peter therefore was kept in prison but prayers were made without ceasing of the church... And his chains fell off from his hands" (Acts 12:5 & 7)
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People stood in the gap and God came. The power of prayers is held high among Christians all over the world. Even within non-Christian religious bodies, prayer
seems to be a common denominator in their cultural stereotype. The issue with us is, despite our knowledge, many of us scarcely pray. It is only when there is a life-threatening prophesy or dream, that you will see people in our prayer meetings.
In the text above, James the Apostle had been murdered viciously by Herod. Earlier, Stephen the Evangelistic Deacon had also been fatally stoned. As a result of the seeming approbation by the popular opinion, Herod further took on Apostle Peter for obvious greater experimentation.These happened because there were no spiritual, social, political or communal consequences of the deaths. The church seemed to have been awoken from her lingering slumber. Sweet sleep was sacrificed at the altar of prayer for Apostle Peter. The king had taken him for slaughter. As an official deputy of Caesar, he was humanly irredeemable. It must have dawned on them that after Peter the rest of them could be taken at one swoop. All night prayer was done for Peter's salvation because deliverance was impossible except by God's intervention. Remember, he had been handed over to squadron of soldiers and kept in a maximum prison. Every hope seemed to have dwindled to a vanishing point. To man, it was a dead-end street. Scripture states that God understands and knows everything and everywhere. He looks to the ends of the earth and sees under the whole heaven. He measures the waters of the ocean and makes a way for the
lightning of the thunder [Job 28:23-26]
When man is at the end of his best, God is never at a tight-corner. Everything and everywhere serves His might. Angles are at his beck and call. He sent an Angelic helper who supernaturally liberated Peter. God still delivers today through
innumerable sources. When God sees 'who can pray', He (God) will turn the impossible around.
When you are walled around and have no escape route, God is still unstoppably available for your deliverance and salvation.
My God and my Father, help me to always remember that you are always available when other sources of help are not available.
796.744 SRY