Fan the Flame - a Journey Through Actsഉദാഹരണം

Day 30 - Peter's Escape from Prison

The church was celebrating the amazing work of God in Antioch with a great number of people being brought to the Lord and being saved. The followers of Jesus now have a new name: 'Christians'. The expectation is high –what is God going to do next?

Then what happened? I thought all was going well, the church was growing... and then James, a disciple/apostle of Jesus, was killed. One of the great sons of thunder is killed by Herod, and Peter, another disciple/apostle of Jesus, is put on death row to be executed. Persecution once again grips the church. This happened amid amazing fruit from a move of God, and they experienced opposition and pushback. Take notice of how the church responded to this. They could have run for the hills, hid away, or even moved north to Antioch or Asia Minor to get away from the likes of King Herod. But they prayed! They earnestly prayed for Peter. I can imagine that was one emotionally charged and moving prayer meeting. Then in response, God moved, the angel of God was with Peter, and simply walked him out of the prison, and Peter joined the prayer meeting.

For most of us, you haven't been in a situation where (a) a brother in Christ and prominent leader of the church has been killed, and (b) another put in prison and whilst (c) during a prayer meeting an angel simply walked him out of jail to join in on the meeting. But each of us has faced opposition and/or pushback, some sort of struggle and challenge to overcome as we follow Jesus. This here serves as a great example of how Jesus calls us to respond in the face of these challenges, and that is through prayer. The response from God won't always be an angel, but we can expect God to hear and respond.

Let’s pray and ask the Lord to fan our hearts into flame today as we seek to obey Him. Let us acknowledge that the church faced many challenges and opposition even amid great wins. Then simply list all the challenges that you are facing and ask God to move in you and your church to overcome these challenges.

Written by Dan Keevers