Acts Chapter Twelve: Prayer and Thanksgiving

Acts 12:1 CSB

1 About that time King Herod violently attacked some who belonged to the church,

The Herod in this story is the grandson to Herod the Great, the man who built the Temple.

Acts 12:2–3 CSB

2 and he executed James, John’s brother, with the sword. 3 When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too, during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

James was a Son of Thunder and one of Peter’s fishing buddies. James was also a part of Jesus’ inner circle. His death should have dealt a crippling blow to the ministry and effectiveness of the church if it were not for the overwhelming power of God’s work in the church.

His death happened during the week of Passover

Acts 12:4–5 CSB

4 After the arrest, he put him in prison and assigned four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover. 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was praying fervently to God for him.

“but the church was praying fervently to God for him.”

What does it mean to pray fervently?

How do we pray effectively?

Does God answer prayer?

Prayer

God wants us to pray to Him because He loves us and wants to have a relationship with us.

It is the way we communicate with God and is crucial to our walk with Christ. When we pray it changes the way God acts. God does what God wants, He isn’t a genie in a bottle, but when we pray God hears our prayers and He acts.

Job and his friends

Abraham intercedes for Lot against Sodom and Gomorrah

Moses intercedes for Israel against themselves

Elijah intercedes for Israel against Ahab and Jezebel

Daniel intercedes for Israel against Babylon

Jesus intercedes for us against the Father’s wrath

Luke 11:9–10 CSB

9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Our prayers are only effective because of our mediator, Jesus Christ.

This is why we pray in His name. Jesus intercedes on our behalf. His name is powerful so when we pray in His name we should understand the weight that comes with that.

To be effective with our prayer there are 12 things that help us to be effective.

Praying according to God’s will

Praying with faith

Being obedient to God

Confessing sin when we haven’t been obedient

Forgiving others

Humility

Continuing in prayer over time (consistency)

Praying earnestly

Waiting on the Lord

Praying in private

Praying in public

Fasting

A Thankful Heart

Philippians 4:6–7 CSB

6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Sarah Josepha Hale, Thanksgiving, and the power of persistent petition

Sarah Josepha Hale was an American author known for writing “Mary had a little lamb”. The New Hampshire-born Hale had grown up regularly celebrating an annual Thanksgiving holiday, and in 1827 published a novel, Northwood: A Tale of New England, that included an entire chapter about the fall tradition, already popular in parts of the nation. While at Godey’s, Hale often wrote editorials and articles about the holiday and she lobbied state and federal officials to pass legislation creating a fixed, national day of thanks on the last Thursday of November. She believed that such a unifying measure could help ease growing tensions and divisions between the northern and southern parts of the country. Her efforts paid off: By 1854, more than 30 states and U.S. territories had a Thanksgiving celebration on the books, but Hale’s vision of a national holiday remained unfulfilled.

The concept of a national Thanksgiving did not originate with Hale, and in fact the idea had been around since the earliest days of the republic. During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress issued proclamations declaring several days of thanks, in honor of military victories.

In 1789, a newly inaugurated George Washington called for a national day of thanks to celebrate both the end of the war and the recent ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Both John Adams and James Madison issued similar proclamations of their own, though fellow Founding Father Thomas Jefferson felt the religious connotations surrounding the event were out of place in a nation founded on the separation of church and state, and no formal declarations were issued after 1815.

The outbreak of war in April 1861 did little to stop Sarah Josepha Hale’s efforts to create such a holiday, however. She continued to write editorials on the subject, urging Americans to “put aside sectional feelings and local incidents” and rally around the unifying cause of Thanksgiving. And the holiday continued, despite hostilities, in both the Union and the Confederacy.

In 1861 and 1862, Confederate President Jefferson Davis issued Thanksgiving Day proclamations following Southern victories. Abraham Lincoln himself called for a day of thanks in April 1862, following Union victories at Fort Donelson, Fort Henry and at Shiloh, and again in the summer of 1863 after the Battle of Gettysburg.

Shortly after Lincoln’s summer proclamation, Hale wrote to both the president and Secretary of State William Seward, once again urging them to declare a national Thanksgiving, stating that only the chief executive had the power to make the holiday, “permanently, an American custom and institution.”

Whether Lincoln was already predisposed to issue such a proclamation before receiving Hale’s letter of September 28 remains unclear. What is certain is that within a week, Seward had drafted Lincoln’s official proclamation fixing the national observation of Thanksgiving on the final Thursday in November, a move the two men hoped would help “heal the wounds of the nation.”

After more than three decades (thirty years!) of lobbying, Sarah Josepha Hale (and the United States) had a national holiday.