The events of Acts 12 took place approximately 12-15 years after Jesus’ crucifixion. The Church was growing and expanding. But now, the Church experienced demonic pushback. Herod Agrippa executed James, the brother of John. Peter was siezed and placed under heavy guard. And Luke records that the Church’s response to this was to go into strenuous prayer.
For the Christian, prayer is always the right response. Prayer must be routine. If we are seeking God, we will pray.
Prayer is our surrender. If we think that, by our maneuvering or the activities of others, we can escape a situation, we have not surrendered. If we pray as mere ritual—hollow form, with no substance—we have not surrendered. Strenuous prayer is our dependence in God alone to move in our lives.
The Church strenuously prayed for God to intervene, but they were clueless as to how this would manifest itself. And often, we are clueless when we pray. But Romans 8:26-28 reminds us that we do not have to know how God will act; we simply must trust that God will act: “If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. [The Holy Spirit] does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. [The Holy Spirit] knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.”
Finally, note that God brought about Peter’s release despite their disbelief. When Rhoda reported to the praying Church that a freed Peter was knocking at the door, the Church refused to believe her report (Acts 12:12-17). Though the Church engaged in prayer—the right response—they didn’t believe that God would provide the very thing that they were seeking—the wrong attitude.
It reminds us that God works independent of us…and we should be glad.
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