Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands. Acts 12: 5-7, NKJV.
This is one of my favorite Bible stories. It speaks so eloquently of the unlimited power of Almighty God. In true life stories like these, I picture God – literally, Bigger than life – the Sovereign – the One and Only Creator and Redeemer – looking down upon His creatures, and rearranging circumstances. I see Him opening doors that were once closed (like those in our Scripture for today), and closing doors, that, according to His omniscience, should never have been opened. I see my God taking charge, keeping His unrivaled control over the circumstances in the life of His children. That gives me peace of mind!
According to the rest of the story, on the following day, Peter was going to be executed (1-4). That, of course, was according to Herod’s plans. Aren’t You glad that God holds the “plans’ for your life (Jeremiah 29: 11), and not a human being like yourself? Praise God! So God sent one of His “ministering spirits” (Hebrews 1: 14), to frustrate Herod’s plan, and bring to pass, His divine plan. Hallelujah!
However, we must not overlook the part the church played in this wonderful story. The Bible plainly states that “constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church” (Acts 12: 5b). Brothers and sisters, friends, if only we were convinced of the fact that our prayers are important to God, and that He not only hears the urgency of our prayers, but He also feels our pain, how many more chains we would see falling off of those we love; because we would not cease to pray! Prayer is sometimes the only means of liberation from some situations. Please note that I said, sometimes it is the only means. There are times that we can do something to help take the chains off, but there are other times when every human effort is useless, and only a conversation with the Father is going to break those chains! “A little talk with Jesus makes it right, all right!”
I want to conclude our devotional for today on the following note: “Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands. (Emphasis provided). Just a touch and a word from the heavenly visitor and “the chains fell off. . .” For those who like to watch action movies, to pull off an operation of this magnitude would require so much shedding of blood that the producers would have had to give the movie an “R” rating. But in the supernatural realm of prayer, just a touch to awaken Peter and a word of instruction, set him free.
When praying for our loved ones, or about anything for that matter, many of us have a tendency to tell God what to do, in order to answer our prayers. Let me just suggest that you do all that you can, then – pray without ceasing – leave the rest to God – and watch the chains fall off!