THE IMPOSSIBLE PRAYER
FOCUS: THE ACCOUNT OF THE ARREST OF PETER AND HIS DELIVERANCE BY THE HAND OF GOD.
FUNCTION: TO PROMOTE A STRONGER FAITH IN THE WEAK PRAYERS OF CHRISTIANS.
TEXT: ACTS 12:1-17
INTRODUCTION
Eddie from the Brown Trail Church of Christ in Bedford, Texas pulled me aside one Sunday morning before a congregational potluck. He wanted to tell me something extremely important but desired to tell me secretively. He had a sense of shock and joy on his eighty-year-old face. I could tell that this news will or has changed his outlook on life. I knew that this information was the only idea on his mind.
Eddie told me that I had to keep this information to myself and I promised not to tell anyone in the congregation. He was afraid of what his brothers and sisters in Christ would think of him if they knew what happened. In a quiet tone, he began to tell me his story.
Eddie was suffering with cancer in his liver for sometime. I am unsure of how long. He was scared that he would die soon. He said he was praying that God would heal him, even though, he doubted that God would work in that manner. Though, he prayed because he was desperate. That week he went into the hospital to get an update and a check up on the progress of the cancer. To his and the doctor’s surprise, all the cancer was gone. It was if he never had cancer in the first place. Eddie could not explain this and neither could the doctor.
Somehow Eddie was healed. Eddie believed, though going against his ideas about how God can operate, that God healed him. He had no other explanation for what just occurred. He believed that God answered his prayers.
Today we pray impossible prayers. In the first century they asked impossible prayers. Now we all know today that Benny Hinn and everyone else who claims that they have miraculous powers are wrong. Man cannot heal another man by his touch. The way that the Apostles could heal in the first century is not available to us today. On the other hand, we do not want to limit the power of God in today’s world. Man cannot heal but God can heal. God can cause great things to happen. God still has the power to answer the impossible prayers. It is sad when we put God in a box or place manmade rules on the Lord. God is God and can do what He pleases. God can answer prayers today anyway He wishes.
Let me tell you a story about an impossible prayer being answered in the book of Acts. I am going to tell this story through the eyes of three people. First of all, I am going to tell the story through the eyes of the servant girl Rhoda, then through the eyes of the Disciples in the room, and then through the eyes of Peter the Apostle.
Rhoda’s story is in Acts 12:1-17. Rhoda was a servant girl for Mary who was the mother of John Mark. That night the disciples were praying that Peter would be released from the prison that Herod the second put Peter in to wait until the end of the Passover so he could kill him in the sight of the Jews. Rhoda was a servant in a wealthy household because this house had to be big enough to hold a large gathering of people. In the middle of the night she goes to the door because she hears a light knock upon it. She looks out the door window and sees a face. She realizes that it is Peter whom they been praying for that night. She is so excited that she forgets to open the door. She runs back to the praying disciples to tell them the good news. She says, “Peter is at the back door.” They look at her with stock and doubt on their faces. This is impossible. How can Peter be freed? They do not believe her and tell her that it must be his spirit. The text says Angel but a better rendering in the Greek is spirit. The disciples believe that Peter has been killed and his spirit is outside. They do not believe her because she is a simple servant girl. They think that she is out of her mind. She must be craze to think that Peter has returned.
Another way of looking at this story is through the disciple’s eyes. They were scared to death. Herod just killed James, which was one of the leaders in the early Church. This pleased the people so Herod was going to kill Peter to secure more favor from the Jews. The disciples knew that Herod was on shaky ground with the Roman government. He would do anything to gain the favor of the Jews and there was a no better way to do this than to kill off those hated disciples. He was on a tear.
The disciples were at Mary’s house praying for Peter’s release. They had no hope. They could not free him. They could not persuade Herod to release him. The definitely could not force Herod to let Peter go. So when people are out of options. When people free that there is no hope. When people know that this is an impossible situation. The pray because that is the only option they have. We problems become bigger than the power of the human spirit, humans go to God in prayer as the last option. When a dilemma is larger than man can handle, men take it to God because of necessity. That was what the disciples were doing. They took their problem to God because He was the only one who could solve the problem.
The disciples were praying but did not believe that God would do anything. Why would they? They just heard Herod killed James so why would they not believe that Peter would be killed also. If God did not deliver James for the evil hands of Herod, why would he deliver Peter from the prison and sentence of death? Nevertheless they were still going to try to pray for his release. Even though they did not believe in what they were praying for.
Last year while I was at Heritage Christian University, my friend Jim Collins wife Pam Collins learned that she had a tumor in her head the size of an orange. The doctors gave her a maximum of six months to life. The whole school was praying for her health. Jim was praying for her health. The churches in Florence, Alabama were praying for her health. Medical science could not solve the problem. Doctors could not treat her. Only God could fix her. This was an impossible situation that could only be placed in God’s hands. Five months later she went to meet her Lord.
This is why the disciples did not believe that Peter was at the door. The disciples were praying for Peter and hoping that they would not lose their own lives. When they finally went to the door and saw peter they was overjoyed. They must have started to celebrate because peter told them to keep quiet because he did not want anyone to hear them. The disciples were amazed that God freed Peter. What a faith grower. What a prayer encourager to see Peter who should be dead at the door.
The final person that we will see this story develop through is Peter’s. Imagine Peter sleeping chained to two guards. He knows his life is coming to an end. His friend James life has been taken from his by Herod and he knows he is next. The text says that Peter is sleeping. He must have accepted that fact that he was going to lose his life. He seems to have the peace of God in his heart.
Then this Angel from heaven comes and leads Peter out of the prison. His chains fall off and off he goes to freedom. Imagine how Peter must have walked. He was more than likely afraid to breathe. He snuck out of that prison. The Angel knew the way and Peter followed him. Peter put his cloak around himself and started walking. During this whole time Peter felt like he was dreaming. He sought he was seeing a vision. Nevertheless, this was a good dream for Peter.
Then he came to a iron gate. He probably though that this dream was coming to an end because there was a gate in the way. How sad to get this far and then be trapped in by a gate. But the gate was open and Peter walked through. Peter realizes that God has delivered him from Herod. The Angel departs and Peter is on his own. His first instinct was to head to Mary’s house.
Now see Peter at Mary’s door scared, worried, and excited. Now this servant girl comes to the door after an eternity in Peter’s mind. She sees him and is so excited that she forgets to let him in. Imagine how jumpy Peter is right now. He is free but can’t get into the house. His heart is pounding and racing. He is looking all around watching for people and the guards. It takes forever for the disciple to finally come to the door.
At the door the disciples are celebrating and rejoicing and drawing attention to themselves. Peter is scared for his life and the disciples are announcing his arrival. Peter has to tell them to keep quiet before the authorities hear them. He enters the house and tells them this story.
Acts 12:1-17 reads. “Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church, in order to mistreat them. And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword. And when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread. And 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. So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God. And 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. And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared, and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and roused him, saying, "Get up quickly." And his chains fell off his hands. 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." 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. And 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. And 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." 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. And when he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer. And 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. And they said to her, "You are out of your mind!" But she kept insisting that it was so. And they kept saying, "It is his angel." But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed. 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." And he departed and went to another place.”
Every now and then God moves in a mysteries way. Sometimes we cannot explain what happens through earthly eyes. God can work today through providence. Men do not have the power to heal but God has the power to do whatever He wishes. Men cannot place God in a box like a pet and tell him what He can and cannot do. A miracle is something that can be seen through the agent of human eyes where providence is what happens beyond human eyes. If we believe that God does not work in today’s world we have become like the unbelieving deists. They say that God created the world and set it in motion and just let man to himself. Where Christians believe that God is working still in the human story. We serve a living God not a dead God.
When I stayed with the Blickhams in Mississippi the husband told me this story about his wife. Ann had cancer and she was about to die. The doctors gave her a few weeks to days to life. When it looked like Ann was about to die. The Church gathered together and prayed for Ann to be healed. The next day Roger the husband went to the hospital to see Ann. She was sitting in her bed with a huge smile. She had tons of energy. The doctors took heal into the testing room and discovered that she did not have cancer any longer. The cancer was gone and she is still living to this day. Every now and then God moves in this world and we get a glimpse of it.
Jim Redmond son Derek, a twenty six old Briton was favored to win the 400 meter race in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Halfway into his semifinal heat, a fiery pain seared through his right leg. He crumpled to the track with a torn hamstring. As the medical attendants were approaching, Redmond fought to his feet. “It was animal instinct,” he would later say. He set out hopping, pushing away the coaches in a crazed attempt to finish the race. When he reached the stretch, a big man pushed through the crowd. He was wearing a t-shirt that read “have you hugged your child today?” and a hat that challenged, “Just Do It”. The man was Jim Redmond, Derek’s father. You don’t have to do this, he told his weeping son. Yes I do Derek declared. We then said Jim, we are going to finish this together. And they did, Jim wrapped Derek’s arm around his shoulder and helped him hobble to the finish line. Fighting off security men, the son’s head sometimes buried in the father’s shoulder, they stayed in Derek’s lane to the end. The crowd clapped, then stood, then cheered, and then wept as the father and son finished the race.
Every now and then, God comes out of the stands and saves the day.
