Enough Faith to Pray

[Rhoda] ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. They said to her, “You are out of your mind!”
–Acts 12:14–15

In Acts 12, King Herod arrested Peter. But the apostle had an irksome habit of escaping from prison. Herod wanted to make sure this didn’t happen again, so he had Peter under guard around the clock. It wasn’t enough to stop the hand of God. In verses 7–8, an angel appeared in Peter’s cell and led him out of the jail and into the city.

After the angel left him, Peter went to find his friends, who had been praying fervently for him. Their reaction to Peter is probably the funniest passage in the Bible. Look at verses 13–14: “When he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer. When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate.” Rhoda was so excited to hear Peter that she forgot to open the door. She told everybody who was praying for Peter that God had answered their prayers, and they said, “You are out of your mind!” (v. 15). While they argued about whether Peter was really there, he was still outside knocking at the door.

Even though these Christians had the faith to pray for Peter’s deliverance, they didn’t fully believe God could answer their prayers. Isn’t that true for us sometimes? We pray and pray and pray, but if God answers, we’re shocked.

I’m reminded of the story about a church that was distraught about a bar being built across the street. They couldn’t stop the construction, so they held a prayer meeting to ask God to intervene. During the meeting, lightning struck the bar, and it went up in flames. Furious, the bar owner sued the church, blaming the prayer meeting for the loss of his bar. The church’s attorney argued that the church couldn’t be held liable for an act of God. When the case went to trial, the judge said, “One thing is clear: The bar owner believes in the power of prayer and the church does not.”

I don’t know whether the Christians in Jerusalem were fully convinced of the power of prayer. But they had enough faith to pray, and God answered their prayers.

Today’s devotion is adapted from “Persecution, Prison, and Prayer,” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2022.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.