1And at that time Herod the king threw on his hands to oppress some of those of the church.
2 And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
3 And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he went further to seize Peter also. (And they were days of Unleavened Bread.)
5 Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.[Acts 12:1-3&5]
From the above verses, it seems the church did not pray when James was arrested. At best, it was a casual prayer. The result was that James, the brother of John, one of the three “Apostles of the Inner Circle” was beheaded by Herod. However,when Peter too was arrested, they realised drastic action needed to be taken. Thank God they decided to employ the most lethalweapon of the believer – the weapon of Prayer.
Note the type of prayer that church was engaged in- constant prayer. The King James Bible says “But prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him”.
Two lessons here for us are as follows:
First, we need to sustain our prayer until we receive answers. The reason we don’t always get results when we pray is that we give up easily after some time. We conclude it’s not the will of God to give us what we’re asking for. However, a journey through the scriptures reveal otherwise. The widow that came to the judge asking for action to be taken on her case that was pending before the Court kept pestering the judge until the case was decided in her favour. She was tired of the frequent adjournments and decided to make the judge restless. Note that she had a good case but had to be persistent for her matter to be dealt with. Hannah went to Shiloyear after year,praying the same prayer, asking for the same thing (a male child) until she got it. Don’t be tired of asking. You’ll receive answers if you don’t give up.
Secondly, there is so much power in corporate prayer. Jesus said wherever two or three are gathered in His name, He’s right there in their midst. He also said if two people shall agree on a matter on earth, it shall be done by His Father Who is in heaven. It’s good to pray as individuals; but more power is released when believers gather together and pray in unity.
Get some faithful friends (not gossips) to pray with you on that issue and you’ll see quicker results than doing it all alone. Agreement with your spouse equally does wonders.
In sum, I’ve come as God’s messenger, reminding you to keep praying on that burning issue. God is listening and will answer you. Don’t stop praying and don’t be fed up. You don’t need to change your grammar or style. Just keep repeating the same thing if you so desire. God isn’t tired of hearing your voice on that same matter.
May we receive more grace to keep praying without ceasing until we receive concrete answers to the glory of God. Amen.
