Introduction: "Somebody’s Praying Me Through--with military testimonies" (Available at http://doxologyrecords.com/news/article.asp?intNewsItemKey=16)
At it’s best prayer is not simply a list of things I want from God but also a time of intercession for others. Intercession is when we pray for the needs of other people. To intercede is to go between, to intercede in prayer is to go before God on behalf of someone else.
In our Scripture this morning the church has gathered to pray for Peter as he faces near certain execution at the hand of the ruthless King Herod. They’ve gathered to intercede. As we saw God answered their prayer on his behalf.
Interrogative: The question I’d like to consider this morning is exactly what kinds of prayer that was, or to apply it to our lives and our prayers as we’ve been doing each week, "what kind of prayers does God answer?"
Transition: Well let’s find some answers to that question in this story. The first thing I’d like to note is that God answers prayers that are...
I. Earnest
5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
The adjective that describes their prayer here is the same one that the Bible uses to describe the prayer of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane before he died on the cross, where the Scripture tells us that he prayed so fervently that he sweat drops of blood.
Two key leaders in the early church had been arrested. James was executed and it seemed certain that Peter was soon to follow. His friends and followers got together and got serious in prayer.
The Bible says that the effective fervent prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effect. God answers fervent prayer. Why does it matter? Well my guess is that fervent--shall I say desperate?--prayer is prayer of great faith.
AJ Gossip remarked that we often say "We can do nothing, ’we can only pray’. That, we feel, is a terribly precarious second-best. So long as we can fuss and work and rush about, so long as we can lend a hand, we have some hope; but if we have to fall back upon God -- ah, then things must be critical indeed!"
Does it sound familiar? Unfortunately yes, it does. Nevertheless in our desperation we pray the prayer of faith and we find that God answers our earnest prayer.
The next thing I note about this prayer is that it is...
II. Unselfish
5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
They’re not praying for themselves--at least not primarily but for Peter, for the church. This is the heart of intercession, unselfish prayer. Prayer for the needs of someone else. Certainly, those needs may intersect with our own. But I believe that God honors a prayer that seeks first His glory.
In 1540 Luther’s good friend, Frederick Myconius, became deathly sick. He himself and others expected that he would die within a short time. One night he wrote with trembling hand a fond farewell to Luther, whom he loved very much.
When Luther received the letter, he sent back the following reply immediately, "I command you in the name of God to live because I still have need of you in the work of reforming the church. . .The Lord will never let me hear that you are dead, but will permit you to survive me. For this I am praying, this is my will, and may my will be done, because I seek only to glorify the name of God."
Myconius had already lost the ability to speak when Luther’s letter came. But in a short time he was well again. And, true enough, he lived six more years and survived Luther by two months!
O. Hallesby in his powerful little book called simply "Prayer" notes that nothing makes us so effective in prayer as when we can look into the eye of God and say to Him, "You know that I am not praying for personal advantage, nor to avoid hardship, nor that my own will in any way should be done, but only for this, that Your name might be glorified." (O. Hallesby, "Prayer" pg. 130-131)
God honors unselfish prayers. The next one may seem out of place--it’s not a direction but a description, not a positive example but an encouragement that God honors prayers that are...
III. Imperfect
12When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. 13Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!"
15"You’re out of your mind," they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, "It must be his angel."
Isn’t this a goofy little piece of the story to keep in? But I believe that there is no accident in Scripture. All of it is there for a reason--to instruct, to inform or to encourage. But what are we meant to make of this? Are we meant to pray with so little faith that we are surprised when our prayers are answered?
As I studied for this sermon I found several others who had used this as an opportunity to preach that we should pray believing our prayers will be answered. OK well that’s true enough--I agree with it. But that can’t be what the Scripture is teaching us by including this--because their prayer was answered even if they didn’t believe it would be. So why include this embarrassing tidbit?
I think it’s an encouragement to us that God answers our prayers even when our faith isn’t perfect. In fact even when our theology isn’t perfect--Are we to believe that each of us has an angel who is our doppelganger? I don’t think so, I think that the point is that God honored their prayer even if they weren’t giants of faith or theology.
I think that the fact that our prayers are answered says far less about the quality of our prayers than it does about the quality of our God!
Another example of this is found when the father brought his son to Jesus to be healed and Jesus said "All things are possible if you believe." To which the man replied, "Lord, I believe, please help my unbelief."
It’s an encouragement to me that their prayer is described as "earnest" in spite of the fact that they obviously weren’t convinced that God would answer. I don’t know about you but often in my life there are times when I pray earnestly, but the truth of the matter is that it’s hard to see how God’s gonna work things out. I’m glad to know that God still answers my prayers even while my faith is growing.
This is not to downplay the importance of faith--faith is unquestionably important in prayer, and our faith grows as we see God answer our prayers. But we can still pray earnestly while our faith is under construction.
There’s one last thing I’d like you to notice about this prayer that they prayed on Peter’s behalf. It was a big one!
IV. BIG
16But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.
This was a prayer so big that the answer astonished them. Peter got unchained from two guards, walked past two others and out a locked gate. God is not afraid of big jobs.
A tale is told about a small town that had historically been "dry," but then a local businessman decided to build a tavern. A group of Christians from a local church were concerned and planned an all-night prayer meeting to ask God to intervene. It just so happened that shortly thereafter lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground. The owner of the bar sued the church, claiming that the prayers of the congregation were responsible, but the church hired a lawyer to argue in court that they were not responsible. The presiding judge, after his initial review of the case, stated that "no matter how this case comes out, one thing is clear. The tavern owner believes in prayer and the Christians do not." (J.K. Johnston, Why Christians Sin, Discovery House, 1992, p. 129.)
Do the Christians believe in prayer or not. Often I think not, often we are afraid to pray for big things, because our faith wavers, but I think we out to pray for big things. We ought to pray for communism to be shattered in Eastern Europe so that the good news about Jesus can be preached freely--Oh wait, that already happened! Well make it China then. We ought to pray for people with cancer. We ought to pray for the salvation of people who seem impossible to reach.
I believe God answers prayers for soldiers in the desert and for babies in their mothers arms.
He answers earnest, heartfelt prayers, unselfish prayers that seek to glorify Him, He answers prayers even whenthose prayers aren’t perfectly prayed and when our faith isn’t perfect. He answers little prayers, but He also answers prayers as large as the Soviet Union.
God answers prayers!
