When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!” “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.” (Acts 12:14, 15)
James is killed. Peter is arrested and looks to be next. He is securely guarded, Herod is in the ascendancy. It’s one thing Stephen being killed, but with the death of James the imprisonment of Peter this is getting to the heart of the leadership in the headquarters.
The church says it’s time to pray. The church gathers together and earnestly prays. Great things have happened before in prayer – but this. This would be quite something.
So when Rhoda breezes into the meeting with excitement talking about Peter being at the door, the doubt and scepticism raised is understandable. After all, in as passionate and earnest as the prayers were, there could have been two strands in operation. One, is that persecution was to be expected and so Peter was just joining the growing list of those who suffered for righteousness. The other strand could have been that thought that said – be reasonable there is no way Herod would let Peter go when his popularity is so high.
The episode goes to show that often it’s worth remembering who we’re praying to and what He is capable of doing. That which we consider miraculous is an expression of God’s ability to overrule anyone who thinks they are in charge.
What I like about the episode is that it assures us of two things. Firstly, persecution to followers of Christ is inevitable and can lead to loved ones dying. We do live in a world where there is open and subtle hostility and resistance to the gospel. There are those who see it as their point of duty to stifle any element of effective Christ-centred faith in the world.
Secondly, however, it is assuring to see there is power in prayer – corporate prayer, diligently seeking God to come through in a way that only He can. Reliance on communication with God by His Spirit can make the miraculous something that we can expect.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 
Christopher Dryden is one of the most gifted Bible teachers I have ever met. He opens up this ‘episode’ to get us asking questions about human nature, ourselves and what we would do and feel in a similar situation. We live in a time not too different from this event in Acts; widespread unbelief, persecution, but with some token tolerance from the authorities. Christopher takes believers into the realm of God’s omnipotence and makes it personal to us in our own circumstances. Yes God answers prayer. In this case, corporate prayer. ‘Surely when two or three agree on earth about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by their Father in heaven’ (Matthew 18:19-20) Many of us will have seen many such prayers answered. Maybe we haven’t been as expectant as we ought to have been. I have prayed with Christopher and he really does have that confidence. When seemingly impossible situations like this one in Christopher’s topic have been turned upside-down, I have been so amazed and full of joy that it is impossible to rationalise and that can lead to doubt. But not for long! When the resurrected Jesus appeared to the disciples in the upper room their first reaction was: “And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” (Luke 34:41) When we thank God for answers to our prayers, the joy of the Lord is our strength!
My dear Cedric, thank you so much for your kind words here, and I hope we’re blessed by what you contribute to this episode as I am richly blessed both by your inspiring friendship and love as well as by these excellent insights on how God’s Word then still has meaning and power now.