Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  2024  Day 46

February 15;        Acts 12:6;         101/260;        ‘The Peace of God’

Acts 12:6 And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison.

King Herod was persecuting the Church.  The apostle James, the brother of John, Herod had killed with a sword.  What Herod did pleased the Jews, so he had Peter arrested and put in prison, guarded by four squads of soldiers.  Peter, knowing what Herod did to James had to be troubled in his mind that Herod would have him killed as well.  With thoughts of being killed on his mind, was Peter awake and mentally tormented before being brought before Herod the next morning?  The Word tells us in this verse that Peter was sleeping.  He was bound with chains and soldiers were guarding him.  With the very real possibility of death looming over his head, Peter was asleep.  How could this be?  Peter was born again and when he was, God’s peace, one of the fruit of the Spirit came into Peter’s spirit.  The peace of God is not freedom from disturbing circumstances in your life, it is the presence of the Lord Jesus in your life.  The Bible teaches that God’s peace is different than the world’s peace.  The world’s peace is only present when there are no challenging situations in your life.  God’s peace, because it is a relationship with Jesus is yours regardless of what is going on.  Philippians 4:6-7 teaches that we are to be anxious about nothing.  Peter surely was not anxious about his situation.  If we are not to be anxious about anything, what do we do when there is a challenge?  Talk to the Lord in prayer and begin to worship Him thanking Him that He is bigger than what you face.  God’s peace takes over, He will help you, all is well.