Unlock the door !

Acts 12     Peter’s Arrest and Deliverance

12 Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. ² And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword. ³ When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread. ⁴ When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people. ⁵ So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.

⁶ On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. ⁷ And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And his chains fell off his hands. ⁸ And the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he *said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” ⁹ And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. ¹¹ When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.” ¹² And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. ¹³ When he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. ¹⁵ They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she kept insisting that it was so. They kept saying, “It is his angel.” ¹⁶ But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed. ¹⁷ But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, “Report these things to James and the brethren.” Then he left and went to another place.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

We are to pray believing, to pray prayers of faith. We can not spend too much time trying to understand and take hold of this truth about the importance of faith in answering our prayers. In these texts above, taken from the daily readings in the One Year Bible(the link is available on the links page of this site), we see faith being addressed.  Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. The assurance of things hoped for, so this hope is more than a wish. If it is assured then our hope is really based on truth, fact, a promise. That's the hope we have in prayer, not like wishing on a falling star, but hope based on the truth, the promises of God in His word. We know that God is faithful. Numbers 23:19

God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent;
Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? 

So if we know that God is faithful, then what is left is to look at our part of the equation, the conviction of things not seen. There needs to be conviction about things which are unseen. To have conviction about things we don't see requires us to see from a different perspective. The church, in the text from Acts was praying for Peter from a perspective of the dire circumstances he was in. They wished for a good outcome but there was no conviction. If they truly believed God would deliver Peter they wouldn't have had the door locked. Too often our prayers are like those of the church praying for Peter. We pray wishful prayers, but we keep the door locked because we don't really expect the answer we "hope" for.

Remember our hope is based on an assurance. That assurance is God's word, His promises to us.  Has He said, and will He not do it? On the cross when Jesus paid the price for all the sin and brokeness in the world He said " It is finished. " All of the promises of God are complete in Christ.

What is it that you are facing today?  Don't just wish for it to get better. Pray believing! Unlock the door that holds your doubt and fears. Declare the word of God, His promises over your situation. Praise God thank Him for His faithfulness. Get yourself to a place where you can see things from His perspective. Where there is assurance because it is finished. It is already done and accomplished in heaven through Christ. Pray in your circumstance that His kingdom will come, His will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That's the conviction we need in our prayers, to believe that God will bring the realities of heaven to earth.

If your just not in a place right now where you can pray with that conviction, find some one who can and will. I believe, I am convinced that God wants to do amazing things for His people. I will pray for you. If you leave a prayer request on this site I will get an email and I will pray with conviction for things not seen on earth to become evident to  you. Unlock the door.