By the Way: It’s not always how or when our prayers are answered that sets us free
By Scott Raible on July 27, 2024.
Acts 12 has one of my favourite accounts of the early church with an appearances of an angel and a prison break. Peter has recently been imprisoned by Herod shortly after James, the brother of John, was executed by the sword. The church responds by “earnestly” praying for Peter, and the response is supernatural, as an angel appears to Peter, while he is chained and surrounded by Roman guards. The chains fall off Peter, as the angel leads him to freedom the day before his public trial. The account says Peter and the angel pass by two sets of guards unseen, and the iron gate opened before Peter “by itself.” What a miraculous way for Peter to be set free as a response to prayers of the church. The irony is when Peter makes his way to the house of Mary (mother of Mark) after his escape, where believers gathered and prayed for his deliverance, they were so full of disbelief, they initially refused to believe that what they had prayed for, had come to pass. Even though many in the early church would have experienced the miracles and signs of Jesus, and had seen the miracles of the apostles, they struggled to believe prayers had been answered. If we’re honest, we’ve all been there. Praying for loved ones, praying for deliverance from circumstances and situations, believing for divine intervention, all the while fighting with doubt that what we believe will occur. I have had the honour of praying for people, or on behalf of people/circumstances, and I have seen answers to prayers happen immediately and I have seen answers to prayer delayed and take place months and sometimes years later, but I have seen the answers to those prayers. I have been to different parts of the world where answers to prayer are expected and common place, where here in North America, though we pray, and have prayer times, and prayer services, we have allowed ourselves to walk in the doubt that God truly is the God of the impossible and that He can answer the earnest prayers of the saints. It’s easy to tell people we are praying for them, and go through the motions, but remember Jesus told his followers to be like the old woman seeking justice in order to teach them to pray and never give up (Luke 18:1). Acts 12 gives us a glimpse of how when we pray, we get the supernatural invading our natural circumstances bringing about deliverance, freedom and a sudden change in our circumstances in ways we could not imagine. Remember Acts serves as a reminder and encouragement of what is possible for Christ’s followers today: we operate under the same covenant as they did. Angels appearing, chains falling off, locked gates opening and loved ones returning to us that we thought were as good as dead, all of this possible when we pray and remember through Christ, all things are possible to them who believe (Mark 9:23). Scott Raible has ministered in Medicine Hat as a pastor for the past 20 years and founded Christian radio in Medicine Hat with Alive 99.5 and was an announcer and music director with Praise 93.7 FM. Scott can be reached at scottraible@gmail.com 13-12
