Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 324

November 19;   Acts 12:7;   101/260(II);   ‘The Power of Prayer’

Acts 12:7 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.

Herod, the murderer, killed the disciple James, the brother of John.  When Herod saw that this pleased the religious Jews, he had Peter arrested.  Peter was put in prison, to be dealt with after the Passover, but the Church was constantly praying for Peter’s welfare.  The night before Herod was to deal with Peter, he slept in prison (the peace of God), chained to two soldiers.  In response to the prayers of the Church, the Lord sent an angel into the prison to set Peter free.  The soldiers had to be incapacitated somehow by the angel.  The chains fell off Peter’s hands and led by the angel, Peter walked out of the prison.  The power of biblical prayer in incredible and it allows our Lord to supernaturally get involved in our lives to help us.  This is the case as you pray for yourself and this is the case when the Church sees a need and prays unitedly for Jesus to intervene.  United prayer, in faith, is tremendously powerful.  It appears in this passage, that not everyone in the Church who prayed were in faith for Peter’s release.  When Peter went to the home of Mary, the mother of Mark and it was told that Peter was at the door, some did not believe.  This proves that united prayer will work even if everyone praying are not in faith.  Obviously the more who are in faith the more power is available, but it is probably very hard to get everyone to stand in faith.  It is very important that each of us knows who it is who stands with us in prayer.  Jesus only allowed Peter, James and John to be with Him at Jairus’ home and at Gethsemane.  Since prayer is so powerful, learning to pray biblically, in faith, is so vital.