St. Matthew Lutheran Church

Top o’ the morning to ya, this St. Patrick’s Day. We are now well into the book of Acts. Today we read Acts 11:19-16:40.

I believe there is a very appropriate lesson in Chapter 12 for us. Peter is in prison. He has been put there for teaching about Jesus. And the church is earnestly praying for him, as we can well imagine they would. We read in verse 5:

“So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.”

This is no surprise. This is what we would expect. The surprise comes a few verses later in verse 15-16. Peter has gotten out of prison miraculously. He goes to house where the disciples are gathered. A girl named Rhoda answers the door, sees it’s Peter and runs to tell the others. Here is their response:

“You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.” But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.

I wonder what exactly they had been praying for in verse 5 that they were so astonished at Peter’s release. Were they praying for the sake of praying without expecting any results?

And don’t we do the same?

I am reminded of a cute story about a church in farming country where there was a drought. The pastor called all the farmers together on a Saturday to pray for rain. When they all showed up at Church the next day, he accused them of having no faith. They were astonished and asked why he would say that. He replied, “You prayed for rain yesterday, then came to church today without your umbrellas!”

When we pray, we should be prepared for God to answer.

What Biblical truths did God show me in this passage?
God has given us the gift of prayer to use and He answers those prayers, often in miraculous ways.

Because God tells us in James to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers, how can I apply these Biblical truths to my life?
Today I will pray expectantly and be prepared for God to answer.