Surprised By Prayer!
Acts 12:1-19
The popularity of prayer has skyrocketed in recent months. Prayer, talking about prayer, writing about prayer, exploring patterns of prayers and the like have become more prevalent than Tiger Woods' fans at a golf tournament. Prayer has truly come to the forefront of our society today as more and more people are talking about seeking God's intervention in their lives. There are newspaper articles on the topic of prayer. We see images of people praying to God on television shows like "Touched By An Angel." We hear folks who have gone through tragedies talking about how they prayed for God's help. Prayer has become such a hot topic that there are now folks who are talking and writing about the personal benefits of prayer.
In a recent article in Christianity Today magazine there was an articled titled, "Doctors Who Pray," in which several medical doctors expounded upon the medical benefits of prayer for their patients. Dr. Dale Matthews, an internist and associate professor of medicine at the Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C., is one of a growing number of medical professionals who are discovering the medical benefits of faith and prayer. Dr. Matthews and other doctors are beginning to scientifically study the effects of prayer on illnesses and injuries. In the article, Dr. Matthews says, "Scientific knowledge has demonstrated the positive benefits of religion. I can say, as a physician and scientist--not just as a Christian--that, scientifically, prayer is good for you. The medical effects of faith on health are not a matter of faith, but of science." (Christian Today, January 6, 1997)
Because of the way we are as people, anytime we learn of something that is going to benefit us personally in some way, you can bet there will be many who will jump on the bandwagon. I am deeply concerned about how prayer is being portrayed and about how God is being reduced into some kind of celestial Santa Claus whose primary function is to dole out what we want when we want it. If we understand prayer as simply a means to get what we want and to align ourselves with the "Man upstairs" who can work the system for us then we are totally missing out on the true purpose of prayer. The consequences of this type of understanding of prayer are catastrophic.
Imagine with me for a minute as we go the Intensive Care Unit of Children's Hospital where a mom and dad are anxiously awaiting news on their precious child whose life is hanging in the balance. The little boy is fighting for his life. The doctors are doing everything humanly possible to save the little boy's life. People are praying all over town for the child's health to be restored. Suddenly, the doctor appears from behind the door with his head hanging down and discouragement written all over his face. He walks over to the mother and father, sits down and takes mom's hand, and say's, "I'm so sorry. We did everything we could, but we weren't able to keep your son alive."
What is the mother and father going to be led to believe? Where will they turn? What will they do? If they have been reading many of the pop culture books on prayer, or they have been listening to a preacher who has taught them that all you have to do is ask and God has to give you what you ask for then they are in trouble. Their faith will crumble into a heap of ruins.
This little scenario takes place every day in different situations all across our country. On May 1, 1990, cable television giant Ted Turner accepted an award given by the American Humanist Association for his work on behalf of the environment and world peace. At the banquet, Ted Turner told the captive audience that he had a strict Christian upbringing and at one time considered becoming a missionary. Ted Turner told the crowd that he had been "saved" seven or eight times as a child, but that he became disenchanted with Christianity after his sister died, despite his prayers. Turner said the more he strayed from his faith, "the better I felt." (Spokesman-Review, May 1, 1990)
What a tragedy! I can't tell you how troubled I felt when I read the story of Ted Turner"s life and learned that he had abandoned his faith because of his misunderstanding of the purpose of prayer. I don't know what you think of Ted Turner, but it can hardly be refuted that he is a brilliant man. What a tragedy to learn that his brilliance, which has been used to build a television empire, could have been used to further the cause and Kingdom of Christ. There is power in prayer! Prayer does "work," but not in the way it is being portrayed today. The purpose of prayer is not to benefit us by getting us what we want, to lower our cholesterol count or heart rate, or to allow us to get back at those who have gotten under our skin. The purpose of prayer is to draw us close to the heart of the Father so that our wills, our deepest desires, our passions will be those of the Father and not our own. When we draw close to the heart of the Father then He will be glorified through our lives, our words, and our works done for His glory! People are becoming more interested in prayer so that they can reap personal benefits, but there is an equally devastating practice happening among us today. There are many of us who understand the purpose of prayer, but we are praying with no expectation of God honoring our prayers or acting on our behalf. We are engaging in an empty ritual, sometimes with zeal and fervency, but we certainly never expect anything to happen to turn the situation around. I don't think that we are the first generation to walk away from eloquently worded prayers expecting nothing to happen. In our study for this morning we see how there were many Christians in early Church who prayed fervently for Simon Peter, but then when God answered their prayers they couldn't believe that He really acted on their behalf. Take a look at Acts 12:1-19.
It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. {2} He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. {3} When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened
Bread. {4} After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. {5} So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. {6} The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. {7} Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists. {8} Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him. {9} Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. {10} They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. {11} Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating." {12} When 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. {13} Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. {14} When 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." {16} But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. {17} Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. "Tell James and the brothers about this," he said, and then he left for another place. {18} In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. {19} After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there a while. (Acts 12:1-19 NIV)
This is a tragic comedy at its best. It is tragic from the standpoint that the Church had been praying "fervently," they were focused on praying for Peter because they understood the gravity of the situation.
You need to understand as we get into this story that Herod was a ruthless leader who wanted nothing more than to win popular approval. He was willing to pull up next to those who could give him more power and he was willing to exterminate all of his allies enemies to gain a few more votes.
Herod came from a long line of ruthless leaders. His grandfather, Herod the Great was so barbarous that he executed one of his wives, Mariamne, her mother, and three of his sons (the last one just five days before his own death). Shortly before his death, he lured prominent Jewish leaders to Jericho where he had them put into prison. He knew the people were not going to shed many tears when he died so he ordered that when he died the Jewish leaders be killed as well. As a demonstration of their lack of respect for Herod the Great they didn't follow through with his plans. Probably the most heinous of all of his crimes was the killing of all the male children near Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16) in order to try to get rid of the baby Jesus.
The Herod we are looking at this morning is the grandson of Herod the Great. Herod Agrippa I, reigned from 37 A.D. to 44 A.D. and he followed in the footsteps of his grandfather who had murdered his own son, Herod Agrippa's father, and had brought terror into the hearts of the people. Herod Agrippa was suspect in the eyes of the Romans as they had never truly put their full trust behind him, but because of Herod's friendship with Caligula he was named king and given the area north of Galilee to rule. In 39 A.D. Caligula extended Agrippa's rule by giving him Galilee and Perea. Finally, when Caligula was named Emperor in 41 A.D., Herod was given the entire area of Judea and Samaria, an area rule by Romans for thirty-five years. Herod Agrippa was a powerful man, but he knew in his heart that he was trusted and admired by neither the Romans nor the Jews. To try and gain the trust of the Jews Herod Agrippa was always trying to win their favor. One way to get in the good graces of the Jewish people was to persecute the hated Christians.
As we come to today's section of Scripture we find that Herod Agrippa had already had John the brother of James put to death by the sword. He then had ordered the arrest of Simon Peter to try and gain further approval of the Jewish leaders. There was a very good reason why Herod Agrippa chose the week of celebration following the Passover -- there were lots of Jewish people present to see his act of defiance towards the Christians, an act of alliance with the Jews!
There is little doubt that Herod was planning on having Peter executed as soon as the celebration ended. Herod wanted to make sure that Peter did not escape as he had once before (Acts 5:18), so he had Peter guarded by four squads of soldiers. The four squads of guards consisted of four guards each and they would rotate on their watch every four hours around the clock. Herod had to rest well at night knowing that there was no possible way that Peter was going to escape this time. At any given time there were two men chained to Peter as he sat in his locked cell. At the same time there were two other guards stationed outside the cell just in case he got by the two guards chained to him.
I think we could say that it was a hopeless situation for Peter. The executioner's sword wouldn't need to be put away for another day. The crowds weren't going to show up only to be turned away because of another Harry Houdini-like escape by Peter. The end was near and the guards would assure that Herod's bloodthirsty appetite would be quenched.
Let's switch venues and move from the locked tight cell holding Peter to the little house of John Mark's mother where there are followers of Jesus praying for Peter. These folks weren't just remembering Peter at their bedtime prayers -- they were praying fervently for him! The Greek adverb, "???????" (ektenos), is related to "???????", which is a medical term describing the stretching of a muscle to its limits. The same Greek word used here of the way in which the followers of Jesus were praying for Peter is used in Luke 22:44 for the way in which Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Luke writes, "And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground." (Luke 22:44 NIV) You can easily see that the Christians weren't playing with prayer, they were praying!
When was the last time you prayed in such a way about a situation? When was the last time you were stretched to the breaking point in your prayer life? When the last time you passionately and with such great commitment gave yourself to the labor of prayer? I am convinced that we should pray with such fervency. I believe that we should follow the example of the followers of the early church who labored in prayer over Peter, but I am also concerned that we labor with expectation.
From studying the story of the great escape of Peter from Herod's prison I have come to the conclusion that those who were praying for Peter didn't really anticipate Peter avoiding the executioner's sword. Let me show you what I mean. Take a look at our Scripture once again as I catch you up on what is happening.
Locked in a jail cell with two burly linebacker types locked to his wrists an angel enter Peter's locked-tight doom and brings deliverance. After Peter is outside and down the road, the angel disappears. Sounds like scene scripted for "Touched By An Angel" doesn't it?! What a great story! It is not the craftiness of Peter that got him out of jail -- Peter was asleep when the angel came. It wasn't the sympathy of the jailers that enabled Peter to find deliverance -- they would later lose their lives over Peter's escape! There was no explanation for Peter's escape except for the power of God! It was the power of God that sent the angel! It was the power of God that loosed the chains! It was the power of God that opened the iron gate! It was the power of God! Once free Peter came to his senses and arrived at the same conclusion. In verse 11 we read, {11} Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating." It was the power of God!
Peter made his way to the house of John Mark's mother, Mary. I want you to see firsthand what transpired when Peter arrived at Mary's house. Follow with me from verse 12-16, {12} When 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. {13} Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. {14} When 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." {16} But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.
When Peter arrived at Mary's house the followers of Jesus were still praying. They had been up all night long praying for Peter. I don't know what they were praying about. I haven't a clue if they were praying for Peter to be comfortable, for the living conditions to be amicable, or for Herod not to kill Peter. I could take a wild guess and say that I don't think they were praying for Peter's release because when he showed up at the door they didn't believe the young lady who said, "He's here!" Quite the opposite is true. They said, "You are out of your mind!"
The followers of Jesus were praying, but they weren't praying with expectation. My friend we need to pray with expectation. Now don't take that wrong. I do not desire to join the ranks of those preachers who say "just ask God what your heart desires and He will give it to you." What I am saying is this, when you come to know the desires of God's heart for your situation, ask for Him to move in the situation, and pray with expectation. This is where most of us get sidetracked and end up frustrated in our prayers. I know because I have done it more times than I care to remember. All to often I begin praying about a situation before I come to understand God's desire for that particular situation. I jump into the pool of prayer asking for God to do what I want Him to do for me. We need to know what we should be praying for when we call upon God. We need to be like the little boy who had been sent to his room because he had been bad. A short time later he came out and said to his mother, "I've been thinking about what I did and I said a prayer." "That's fine," she said, "if you ask He will help you." "Oh, I didn't ask Him to help me be good," replied the boy. "I asked Him to help you put up with me." (Our Daily Bread, June 15) That little boy knew how to pray! We need to know how to pray as well. We can find a good example of what I am talking about from the life of Jesus.
We can find a good example of what I am talking about from the life of Jesus. When Jesus was getting ready to face the cross He went to the garden of Gethsemane to pray. While He was praying about the torture and excruciating pain that He was getting ready to face, Jesus prayed, My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." ...{42} He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done." (Mat 26 NIV)
Jesus didn't want to die the horrible death that was waiting for Him, but He desired God's will for His life more than He desired His comfort. When difficult situations come about in our lives and we seek God's help in prayer, we automatically conclude that it is God's will for us to avoid pain and suffering or even death. We may very well conclude wrongly and miss God's best for us in the situation.
Someone might ask, "if I can't rest in the fact that what God wants for me is what is easiest then how can I know what to pray?" Great question. There are times that we may not know what to pray, but when those times arise we need to go to God in prayer, tell Him that we don't know how to pray, but we do desire His best for us, and rest in the fact that God desires His best for us. If we will seek the heart of God fervently, then the times of uncertainty in prayer will definitely be less than if we simply wander through life never seeking to know God intimately. Let me give you an example.
I have three children. My children are always asking me for things, but there are some things that they do not ask me to do or give to them because they know their dad. They also know that their dad desires what is best for them. Annie doesn't know me very well yet since she is only sixteen months old soshe asks me for everything. If I am slicing an apple she will ask me for the knife, but I am not going to give it to her because it would not be best for her. If I am taking some medicine she will ask me for it, but I won't give it to her because it wouldn't be good for her. Nate knows me better than Annie. Most of the time he knows that I desire what is best for him so he doesn't ask me do things for him that could hurt him. Nate can ask to sit in my lap while we watch T.V. and he knows I will always say, "Yes." He knows that he can ask me for money to buy his mother a present and I will give it to him. He knows not to ask me to play with a stick of dynamite because I won't give it to him. Nate is still getting to know me so there are some times that he asks for things that I have to say "No". Dan knows me even better than Nate because we have known each other longer. There are times that Nate will ask for something and Dan will say, "You know dad won't do that." There are some things that the kids at school are doing or maybe planning to do that sounds like it might be fun, but Dan doesn't ask to do because he knows that I will say "No." I am not saying "No" because I am some kind of ogre or tyrant -- I am saying "No" to some things so that we can "Yes" to even better things.
Just as my children need to get to know me in order to know how to ask for something: What to ask for, what not to ask for, or for me to do something, I need to get to know my Heavenly Father so that I can know what He desires for me. My children are learning that I desire to act in ways that demonstrate my love for them. As I get to know the Lord better I will learn that He wants to act in ways that demonstrate His love for me and I will ask Him to act in a like manner. I could say, "Well, surely God wants me to be famous because then I would be able to tell even more people about Him." If God knows that I couldn't handle being famous then why would He grant a prayer that would destroy me? I could say, "Well surely God wants me to be healthy because then I could accomplish much." But what if in my good health I forget about God?
The more we get to know God then better we will be prepared to pray with God's desires in mind. In Alexander Solzhenitsyn's, "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich," Ivan endures all the horrors of a Soviet prison camp. One day he is praying with his eyes closed when a fellow prisoner notices him and says with ridicule, "Prayers won't help you get out of here any faster." Opening his eyes, Ivan answers, "I do not pray to get out of prison but to do the will of God." (Our Daily Bread, December 29, 1993)
Isn't that great! I am not praying for a life of ease, but I am praying for the will of God to be done through my life. Once we come to know God's desires, how we can best be used by God to bring Him the glory and honor He so deserves, then we must pray with expectation.
Do you pray expecting God to act? Do you pray and then when God shows up in your situation you respond like the early Christians by saying, "You are out of your mind." When we pray we need to say, "Lord I don't know how, I don't know how long, I don't know who You will use to accomplish Your will, but I know that You will act and I will wait with expectation for Your mighty hand to move!"
I love the story Howard Hendricks tells about how his father came to know Christ. Howard was at home one day when the phone rang and a young pastor from Arlington, Virginia. He said, "Are you sitting down?" Howard said, "Yes, why?" The young preacher said, "Your father just trusted Christ this evening." After he picked himself up off of the floor Howard said, "He what? You've got to be kidding!"
Howard Hendricks wrote in his book, "Footsteps," Such an inappropriate response grew out of long detours in our father-son journey. Ever since I received Christ as a boy my concern has been for the salvation of my family and loved ones. On repeated occasions I had broached the subject of the gospel with dad, but his response was less than excited.
My father has always been a very important person to me. Not that I approved of everything he said or did or that I imitated him consciously in any way. We weren't really close friends, either. But he was important in my life because of the indirect impact he made upon me.
Dad was a military man. He had seen action around the world. During the periods when he was embroiled in battle, I would become very sensitive to his spiritual need. I and my family prayed for him, but at times I'm afraid my faith sputtered. His response was always the same: Son, don't worry about me. I'll work it out with God (as if God could be manipulated like a Pentagon official). Through a strange turn of events God brought a man into Howard Hendricks life. His name was Butch Hardman. One day before we knew each other Butch was boarding a plane in Detroit when a friend handed him a cassette tape. The man said, "Ever hear Hendricks? Here's a tape you should listen to." On that tape Howard Hendricks related his father's spiritual need for Christ. Butch listened to the tape and something about it reminded him of his own father with whom he had shared Christ shortly before he died. He began to pray for this unknown man, George Hendricks. Some months later Butch attended a pastors' conference in Philadelphia where Howard Hendricks was the speaker.
After the conference Butch was driving the church bus down the street, having discharged all his passengers. He saw a man standing on the corner who reminded him uncannily of Howard Hendricks. Could it possibly be...? He backed up the bus, stopped, got off, and went over to the man. "Are you by any chance Howard Hendricks' father?" It is easy to imagine the startled response. "Er-ah yeah -- you a student of my son?" "No, I'm not, but he sure has helped me. Got time for a cup of coffee?" the man said. That encounter began a friendship, skillfully engineered by the Spirit of God. Butch undoubtedly sensed Mr. Hendricks hesitancy when he discovered he had met a preacher. For a long time Butch did not invite him to attend his church. He simply suggested that Mr. Hendricks drop by the office of coffee. Patiently he endured the smoldering cigars and his endless repertoire of war stories. Before long he also learned that Mr. Hendricks had been diagnosed as having a terminal throat cancer. Months later Butch was at his bedside. "Mr. Hendricks, I'll be leaving shortly for a Holy Land trip. Instead of my listening to you tonight, would you let me tell you a story?" Butch had earned his hearing and he began simply to relate the interview of Jesus Christ with Nicodemus as recorded by the Apostle John. At the conclusion of his story, Mr. Hendricks accepted Butch's invitation to receive Jesus Christ as his own personal Savior. Then he got up out of bed, stood, and saluted with a smile. "Now I'm under a new Commander-in-Chief!" That night Butch called Dallas.
Howard Hendricks says, "The last time I saw dad alive I could not believe he was the same man I had known. His frame was wasted, but his spirit was more virile than I had ever known."
In accordance with Mr. Hendricks specific provision in his will, Butch Hardman conducted the crisp military funeral in Arlington cemetery where the gospel of Jesus Christ was presented to the small group of family and military attendants. As the guns saluted their final farewell, I knew God had vindicated forty-two years of prayer.
Forty-two years of prayer. Forty-two years of wondering if God was ever going to move. Forty-two years of asking, but surely as the years rolled along the expectation of anything significant happening had to dwindle. After forty-years of prayer Howard Hendricks joined a long line of folks who have been surprised by prayer. My friends, we need to pray with confidence that He is able, He is capable, and He is willing to do that which will bring Him glory and honor. My prayer for you is that God might surprise you with the answer to all of our prayers that you surrender your life to Christ and allow Him to surprise you with the gift of eternal life.
Mike Hays
922 NW 91st
Oklahoma City, OK. 73114
