Author Unknown
ACTS 12:5
The phrase “BUT PRAYER” is the turning point in the story. NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF PRAYER!!!
Thomas Watson declared, “The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer that fetched the angel”.
What the church could not see was that while they were praying in the house of Mary, the mother of John, the answer to their prayer was unfolding over in the prison. The angel of the Lord came to Peter, woke him up, and immediately the chains fell off his hands. Peter then followed the angel through the first and second ward and came to the iron gate just before total freedom and the gate opened on it’s own accord.
All this was happening because there was a “prayer meeting” going on.
!!!!NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF PRAYER!!!!.
Peter thought that he was having a vision all this time but when he found himself out on the street and the angel gone then he knew he wasn’t dreaming and he found himself talking to himself:
Acts 12:11 And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. (KJV)
!!!KEEP IN MIND!!! that many people were praying, they were praying earnestly, they had prayed night and day for perhaps as long as a week, and their prayers were centered specifically on Peter’s deliverance. While they are still praying, the answer to their prayers was walking up the street towards them.
They had a hard time believing that the answer to their prayer was standing outside their prayer meeting waiting to get in, but it was. !!!!NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF PRAYER!!!!.
No wonder years later, when he wrote his first epistle, Peter could declare:
1 Peter 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. (KJV)
!!!!PRAYER!!!! knows no cultural, language, city, county, province, nation, continent boundaries. You can pray right where you are and affect the situation on the other side of the world.
The power of prayer is evident throughout biblical history. Moses prayed and the Red Sea parted, Solomon prayed and the glory of the Lord filled the temple, Elijah prayed and fire came down from heaven, Jehoshaphat prayed and the Spirit of the Lord revealed where the enemy was hiding, Daniel prayed and God sent his angel and shut the lion’s
mouth, the apostles prayed and the building they were in was shaken, Paul and Silas prayed and they experienced an earthquake. There are 650 prayers, not including the Psalms, in the Bible and 450 of them have recorded answers.
Through prayer, the hand of God is moved on behalf of those who call upon his name. Through prayer we remain in communion with God, our ability to defeat Satan and sin is only found through the power we have in prayer.
The power of prayer is tremendous, nothing will drive out sin, heal diseases, lift depressions, and cast out demons like an “old-fashioned red hot”prayer meeting. Prayer is the one weapon of the church that Satan fears the most and the most neglected and unused weapon of the church. We yield to the power of the enemy because we don’t use the weapon of prayer. When we wait on God through prayer, he grants supernatural strength and power. Listen to the words of Isaiah:
Is. 40:29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. (KJV)
Natural strength is transformed into supernatural strength when we pray. Little prayer means little power, no prayer means no power. Jesus viewed prayer as more important than his physical life and his appetite.
!!!!NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF PRAYER!!!!
Matt 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. (KJV)
Whatever mountain stands in your path, whatever obstacle blocks your way, whatever difficulty immoblizes you, the prayer of faith can remove it.
J. Edgar Hoover said, “The force of prayer is greater than any possible combination of man-made or man-controlled powers, because prayer is man’s greatest means of tapping the infinite resources of God”.
D.L. Moody declared, “Every great movement of God can be traced to a kneeling figure”.
Dr. T Bulkley, a distinguished mental specialist, said, “”Of all the hygienic measures to counteract disturbed sleep, depression of the spirits, and all the miserable sequels of a disturbed mind, I would undoubtedly give first place to the simple habit of prayer”.
Jer 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. (KJV)
THE ABOVE MATERIAL WAS TAKEN FROM A SERMON UPLOADED BY RON BOWDEN. THIS MATERIAL MAY BE USED FOR STUDY AND RESEARCH ONLY.
