Christians are prone to talking much about prayer and praying too little. We have attend conferences on praying, we preach sermons about praying, and we read books about praying. We develop methods for keeping track of prayer requests (I now have an app on my phone to do that task) and we frequently tell our friends and co-worshippers, “I’ll be praying for you about that.”
But too often, we don’t pray enough. We know we should; we just don’t. We’re not motivated, or we’re distracted, or we allow the urgent activities to crowd out this important privilege from our daily schedule.
So we need to hear the testimony and watch the example of the early church and Peter in Peter’s imprisonment in Acts 12. I find at least five principles for praying in this chapter.
- No circumstance is hopeless when prayer is involved. Yes, Peter was in prison, but notice what Luke says: “but prayer for him was being made (v. 5).” Peter’s hope was not that he would be released, but that prayers were being offered for him. Those prayers did not guarantee his release, but they did guarantee that however God chose to answer those prayers, God was providing His best for Peter and those who prayed with Peter.
- When you pray, don’t give up praying. Luke notes that the prayers that were being offered were “fervent” (v. 5), which means that they were unrelenting and persistent. They prayed consistently and without interruption. It has often been noted that too often we stop praying only when we are really beginning to pray. No one prays too much. Most of us pray not enough. The early church’s persistent prayers for Peter are a timely reminder that we must continue in prayer.
- Prayer is a church-wide activity. In verse 5 it is noted that the (entire) church was praying. And in verses 12-14 it is mentioned that many were gathered together to pray — even a servant girl was present and involved in the prayers (vv. 13-14). Prayer may be a priority of the elders (Acts 6:4), but it is also the responsibility of every believer, no matter his position in the church.
- When it’s time to pray, don’t sleep; but having prayed, sleep. Just a few weeks or months earlier, Peter had fallen asleep when he should have been praying (cf. Mark 14:32ff). In this account, he is sleeping again (v. 6), but this sleep is a sleep of contentment and trust, not disobedience. This was the night when Herod was planning to try him and put him to death — a night when few would sleep well. But Peter is asleep — and his slowness to be awakened (vv. 7ff) indicates he was deeply asleep. It is a safe assumption that in the Garden Peter slept because he did not comprehend the importance of the moment and was spiritually lazy; here he slept because he had done the hard work of prayer and was at peace, trusting the Lord.
- When you pray, believe God will answer. The most ironic part of the story is the response of the church after Peter was released — they said to Rhoda, the servant girl, “you’re out of your mind!” (That is, “you’re crazy!”) Having prayed with persistence, they were still shocked when God answered their requests with affirmation. God will not always give what we ask, but when He is gracious, we should not be surprised. He is gracious, and He loves to give good things to His children (cf. Mt. 7:11).
So there are five more principles about prayer. How should you and I respond? We likely don’t need to contemplate it or meditate it any more — we just need to pray.
Words of Grace 