August 13
Bible Reading: Acts 12:4-5
Acts 12:5, “So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.”
It was King Herod Agrippa I, ruler of Palestine, who had James put to death and Peter imprisoned. He was the grandson of the Herod the Great who sought to kill the infant Jesus by slaughtering all the male babies “two years old and under” at Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1,16-18). He was also the nephew of Herod Antipas, who had John the Baptist killed (Matthew. 14:1-14). Evil and murder were apparently in his blood. As king, he deposed four squads of Roman soldiers to guard Peter, for he commanded such forces. Politically speaking, he was the most powerful man in that region.
King Herod answered to a higher authority, for it was the very forces of hell that stood in opposition to the church (Matthew 16:18), and he was but doing their bidding. As the Apostle Paul reminds us, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12).
In the arrest and imprisonment of Peter, the church found itself in a most needy place. The Apostle Peter was at the very heart of what the Lord was doing in building his church. One can imagine their distress. From a human viewpoint, the situation appeared hopeless. There was no one to appeal to. Four squads of well-trained Roman soldiers guarded Peter; no rescue seemed possible.
But the church was born out of devotion to prayer, and it was in its devotion to prayer that the Spirit worked to grow the church in miraculous fashion. Time-after-time, the Lord worked, through the prayers of his saints, to turn folks from “the power of Satan to God” (Acts 26:18). On a previous occasion, faced with intense opposition, the church had prayed—and God heard their prayers (Acts 4:23-31). Those believers possessed, in prayer, something far more powerful than the whims of an evil ruler or devices of the murderous devil (Ephesians 6:18). We possess the same.
There’s a lesson for us in this. We are often prone to turn to prayer when we’ve exhausted all our own human resources. But the battle is always too big, and the enemies will also be too big for us to resist. The God who raised Jesus, who has delivered us before, stands ready to deliver again (2 Corinthians 1:10-11). “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much” (James 5:16). “Earnest prayer for (Peter) was made to God by the church” (Acts 12:5). We do well to follow their example in response to the troubles we all face!
“O believing brethren! What an instrument is this which God hath put into your hands! Prayer moves Him that moves the universe.” – Robert Murray McCheyne
JESUS, OUR HELP IN TIME OF NEED
Jesus, our help in time of need,
Thy suffering servants see,
Who would in all Thy footsteps tread,
And bear the cross with Thee.
Stand by us in this evil hour,
Our feeble souls defend,
And in our weakness show Thy power,
And keep us to the end.
The world, and their infernal god
Against Thy people rise,
Because our trust is in Thy blood
They mingle earth and skies.
Slaughter, and cruel threats they breathe,
And endless battles wage,
And gnash upon us with their teeth,
And tear the ground with rage.
Captain of our salvation, hear,
In all the heathen’s sight
Make bare Thine arm; appear, appear
And for Thy people fight.
Jesus, Thy righteous cause maintain,
The sons of violence quell,
Take to Thee Thy great power, and reign
O’er Heaven, and earth, and hell.
LookingtoJesus 