Acts 12:5,7: “Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church . . . 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.”

April 9th, 2022 by Pastor Ed in devotional

When the early church heard that Peter had been put in prison, they went to prayer. Luke, who wrote the Book of Acts, was a doctor so we are not surprised that he used a medical term for “constant prayer.” In the Greek, this word describes stretching a muscle to its limit. One could translate the phrase “but prayer stretched-out to its limit was being made by the church to God for him.”

Earnest prayer has power not because it, in itself, persuades a reluctant God, but because it demonstrates that our hearts care passionately about the things that our Father cares about. This is a fulfilling of Jesus’ promise: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7).

We like the idea for earnest prayer that can be found in the word PUSH. Of course we know that PUSH means to physically move something or somebody out of the way. But many have suggested the word as an acronym for: “Pray Until Something Happens.” God wants His children to continue to pray until something happens. It’s not saying that prayer has to be physically hard work, although sometimes it is a struggle just to get started praying, trying to put away distractions enough that we can focus on interceding for others.

God answered the prayer of the interceding early church and sent a heavenly messenger, an angel, to release Peter from his cell. Peter then went to the house where the church was gathered and knocked on the door. But these believers didn’t hear Peter because they were still in P.U.S.H. mode. It is possible to be so caught up in prayer that you don’t even see that the thing you’re praying for has been answered. When we need God to show up in our lives, we need to P.U.S.H. If we are struggling, we need to P.U.S.H. If storms are filling our lives, we need to P.U.S.H. We need to pray until something happens.

“LORD, please send Your heavenly messenger into our lives today and answer our prayers.”