Acts of the Apostles 12:1-7, 11-12
1 “About that time King Herod Agrippa began to persecute some believers in the church.
2 He had the apostle James (John’s brother) killed with a sword.
3 When Herod saw how much this pleased the Jewish people, he also arrested Peter. (This took place during the Passover celebration. )
4 Then he imprisoned him, placing him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring Peter out for public trial after the Passover.
5 Peter was in prison, but the church prayed very earnestly for him.
6 The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. Others stood guard at the prison gate.
7 Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter.
8 The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, “Quick! Get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists.
11 Peter finally came to his senses. “It’s really true!” he said. “The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and from what the Jewish leaders had planned to do to me!”
12 When he realised this, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many people were gathered for prayer.”
The Church in Ireland and in many parts of the world need a revival, and God wants to use each one of us to prepare the way for a mighty outpouring of His Spirit.
It is truly a time to cry out to the Lord and become men and women of fervent prayer because we need God’s intervention in our churches, cities and nations.
Last week I started off with some questions that some people always ask me about prayer: (let’s remind some points)
If God knows all things and even what he himself is going to do, why should we take the time to pray?
Is God not sovereign? If he’s all powerful doesn’t that mean He accomplishes what He wants, when He wants it? If so, why do we pray?
Is God’s will for a Christian automatically guaranteed?
No, God’s will is not automatically guaranteed, God’s will is manifested on earth through our prayers. Why?
God created Adam and gave authority to man and made him the ruler, the manager, the governor of the Earth.
“Heaven belongs to the Lord, but he gave the earth to people.”
Psalms 115:16
The heavens belong to the Lord, but he has given the earth to all humanity.
God created earth and gave authority over the earth to man and God still obeys this principle. (This is why so many injustice, man has authority but he is away from God)
God works and moves on this earth only through men.
There are many things He decided He will not bring from Heaven into existence unless there is human cooperation with His desire.
For example :
“God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
I Timothy 2:4
Yet men only get saved when they believe in Lord Jesus for salvation and me and you are here to preach the gospel for their salvation.
Many things in your life and my life are tied to God’s conditional will. So things happen and don’t happen based on God’s decision but also on our cooperation.
God determined that what he does on earth and your life and my life is conditioned by the absence or presence of prayer!
God will only act on this earth in response to our prayers.
Acts 12:1-11 we see 2 different situations: The Apostle James (John’s brother) was killed by Herod but Peter is miraculously delivered from prison and from death.
Why was Peter delivered?
5 But while Peter was in prison, but the church prayed very earnestly for him.
12 When he realised this, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many people were gathered for prayer.” Acts 12:5,12
The bible doesn’t say the church was praying for the Apostle James , but after his death the church prayed earnestly for Peter and God sent an angel and delivered him from prison and death.
Extraordinary things really happen when the church prays and fasts !
Daniel prayed and fasted for 21 days and an Angel was sent by God.
The earlier church prayed and God sent an Angel to deliver Peter.
We are in a battle ground and not in a play ground but most Christians don’t realise it.
Let’s read some verses
“For our struggle (fight) is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
Ephesians 6:12
“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be ALERT and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”
Ephesians 6:18
“Be alert, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
I Peter 5:8
“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”
2 Corinthians 2:11
I want to draw some conclusions from these four verses
1- Protection from the attacks of our enemy (even for believers) is not automatic. There is a part for us to play.
Though God is sovereign, this does not mean He is literally in control of everything that happens. He has left much to the decisions and actions to humankind.
If God were going to protect or safeguard us from Satan’s attacks regardless of what we did, these verses would be totally irrelevant to Christians.
Somewhere in our theology, we must find a place for human responsibility.
2. God’s plan is to warn or alert us to Satan’s tactics.
Since God says not to be unaware of Satan’s tactics, He must be willing to make us aware of them.
If He says to be on the alert, this must mean that if we are not, He will help us to be.
God would not ask of us something He was not also going to enable us to accomplish.
3. We must be alert—remain watchful—or we won’t be aware of God’s attempts to warn us of Satan’s attacks and plans. If these attacks were always going to be obvious, alertness wouldn’t be necessary, and we must keep watch diligently.
4. If we are not alert and watchful, if we are ignorant of Satan’s schemes, he will take the bigger portion. He will gain on us, taking advantage of our ignorance.
We really can be destroyed due to ignorance.
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”
Hosea 4:6
We may not like to admit it, but Satan really has gained a lot of territory in our city, our family, our churches.
We cannot deny the reality of spiritual conflict. If we do, we act in denial, and the results can be disastrous.
God is looking for watchmen!
The first example of a failed watchman recorded in the Bible was Adam. God told him in Genesis 2:15 to “keep” the garden.
Adam was told to protect the garden, watching for attacks from the evil one, the serpent.
The first responsibility of a watchmen is to keep the serpent out of their God-given gardens.
Our precious gardens are full of demons – we need some watchmen!
Many tragedies could have been avoided if we had watchmen in alert using their authority through prayer.
I challenge you to make a difference. Learn the power of prayer and apply the principles of the watchman.
Let’s get the enemy out of our gardens!
As the enemy of our souls roams the earth seeking whom he may devour, The Watchman Prayer shows how the Body of Christ must exercise its God-given authority and stand on the wall and watch over our homes, our churches, our cities and our nations. Armed with the truth, our stand will be victorious!
The only way you can be victorious in warfare against the devil is you have got to be intimately familiar with the Word of God.
Demons tremble at the sound of Jesus’ name, strongholds are broken when we use the word of God and The Name of Jesus.
Everything we need to battle with the devil has been given to us in the scripture, in the Word of God.
You need to know the word of God and use the power of prayer. You need to open your mouth because WITHOUT a life of PRAYER you are going to be defeated.
Because prayer will help you to stand against the wiles of the devil.
God will come to rescue you. He is at the edge of His seat getting ready to jump in and help you, but He will stand hands off until you ask, until you pray!
One day , Jesus was with His disciples in a boat and great storm came upon them.
Jesus knew that his disciples were in trouble because He was in the boat with them. The bible says He was so confident of who He was in the storm He was asleep on a pillow. Jesus didn’t help them until they cried out.
It was not until they recognised that they could not handle it, that Jesus got up! It was not until somebody said: Master don’t you care that we are about to perish? That’s a cry for help!
When they cried out, Jesus came and said: peace, be still! The storm would still be raging if they hadn’t cried ou
When you cry and pray a fervent prayer He will help you! But you have to ask first!
Paul said in verse 18 that there are a variety of prayers!
“praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit”
Ephesians 6:18
Praying always, with all prayers and supplication.
Prayers and supplication, applies to the idea that we ought to be involved in all kinds of prayer.
Pray when you sit down to eat your food.
Pray when you are fifteen, pray when you are fifty
Pray when you are at work.
Pray when you are at home cleaning and washing.
Pray when you are jogging, running or doing exercises at the gym.
Pray when you sit down next to somebody who won’t speak to you.
Pray for your enemies, pray for your friends, pray for your husband, pray for your children, pray for your in-laws, pray for your coworkers, pray for your town, pray for the poor, pray for the president, pray for the prime minister, pray for the police department, pray for the judges, pray all the time, pray, pray!
Because prayer works and extraordinary things happen when the church prays!
When you pray God will work it out.
“if my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14
There is condition for God to move : IF MY PEOPLE: Humble , Pray , Seek my face and turn from their wicked ways , then I will hear from Heaven !
I urge and challenge you to have a life of prayer!
God will only act on this earth in response to our prayers.
To come to our prayer meetings in the mornings (6 to 8am) , to be in our prayer meetings on Saturday (7:30pm) to come to our period of intercession before the service (12:00 to 1:30) and also to have your time of prayer at home.
God bless and help you to become men and women of fervent prayer because we need God’s intervention in our churches, cities and nations.