Acts 12:5-10. So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
6 The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.
8 Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. 9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.
In Today’s Word, we find the early church in Jerusalem under severe persecution by King Herod, who, fueled by political ambition and a desire for popularity, began to stretch out his hand to harm those who belonged to the church. He ordered James, the brother of John, to be executed by the sword. When he saw that this pleased the religious establishment of the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter as well, intending to bring him out for public execution after the Passover (Acts 12:1-3).
However, when the church earnestly prayed to God for Peter (Acts 12:5), the power of the throne of the Triune God appeared in the prison (Acts 12:7). Our Father in heaven takes great delight when His children earnestly seek His face. When we believe that nothing is too hard for Him, He is deeply pleased. When we place our absolute trust in His sovereignty amidst the crises of life, He accomplishes exactly what He desires and achieves His eternal purposes (Isaiah 55:9-11).
King Herod was under the delusion that he could dismantle the church by striking down its leaders. He believed he could stifle the gospel movement before it spread like wildfire. But Herod was merely a prideful politician, blinded by the fleeting praise of man and void of the fear of God. He did not realize that his very breath was in the hands of the Creator—the same God who had orchestrated the work of salvation for all nations since ages past.
God’s response to the earnest cries of His people was swift and supernatural. He dispatched an angel into the heart of the prison. Chains fell off, iron gates swung open of their own accord, and Peter walked out into the night a free man. Through this, God confirmed His living presence among His people.
Conversely, the pride of Herod met its end; when he accepted worship as a god, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died (Acts 12:21-23). While the tyrant fell, the Scripture records the true victor: “But the word of God continued to spread and flourish” (Acts 12:24). This reminds us that miracles are not just for display; they serve the ultimate “word movement” in the lives of God’s chosen people.
Therefore, do not be afraid of the world! Nothing can stop the power of the Word of God. No earthly power can dismiss what God has planned to do. To pray earnestly is to be single-minded and whole-hearted, standing on the conviction that God—and God alone—holds the key to your circumstances. For those who truly seek Him, prayer is never just “one of the options”; it is the only option.
Consider the example of King Hezekiah. When faced with the overwhelming might of 185,000 Assyrian soldiers, he abandoned all human schemes and turned to God, holding onto the covenant. He prayed, “Now, therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord God, You alone” (2 Kings 19:19). He placed the very fate of his nation in the name of God, and God answered by sending a single angel to strike the enemy camp.
Later, when faced with a terminal illness, Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and wept bitterly before the Lord (2 Kings 20:2-3). God saw his tears and heard his cry, adding fifteen years to his life and promising to defend the city. What seemed like a death sentence became an opportunity to experience the miraculous power of God.
We see this same earnestness in Jonah. From the belly of the great fish, in the depths of distress, he cried out: “As my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord. And my earnest prayer went out to you in your holy Temple” (Jonah 2:7). God heard him and reinstated him to his mission. Scripture also reminds us that Elijah, a human being just like us, prayed earnestly for the rain to stop and then to start again, and God moved the heavens in response (James 5:16-18).
In Christ, you have been made the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). This means your earnest prayer is powerful and effective (James 5:16). You are a precious child of God, and He cares for the smallest details of your life. Do not fix your eyes on your present situation. Instead, seek your Father with the thirst of David, who cried out in a dry and parched land, “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you” (Psalm 63:1). When you stand before the Word and plead for His grace and mercy, holding onto His covenant, you will see the gates open and the Word of God flourish in your life.
Prayer. Father, I thank You for the privilege of prayer—the bridge that allows me to approach Your throne anytime and anywhere. I now earnestly seek You; body and soul, I thirst for Your presence. You are my God, and You alone hold the key to all my circumstances. I trust that Your Word will spread and flourish in my life today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.