My Help Comes From the Lord

"Miracles are not in contradiction to nature. They are only in contradiction with what we know of nature."- Saint Augustine.

― Craig S. Keener, in His Book Gift & Giver: The Holy Spirit for Today. “He does miracles when we need them, not for entertainment but so that we may know He still works all things for His Glory!

Luke interrupts his intense account of the Holy Spirit’s movement on the church to give a unique story. From, Testimonies for the Church “Jesus is present, and the Spirit puts forth His mighty work, that human agents may be used in working on other’s lives.”

I hope you have seen; that Luke enjoys telling accounts of the interventions of our Lord which are answers to the very prayers His people are praying. This story is no exception. We laugh through it with Luke and then suddenly realize he’s helped us laugh at ourselves. The wise one once wrote “A merry heart does good like medicine.” Proverbs 17:22

Lloyd Ogilvie puts it in perspective for us. “God joined in on the laughter of heaven as we blunder through our life.”

Herod was on the hunt. The Devil always has his minions who are ready to help him do his bidding. Peter would write “The Devil roams around like a roaring lion looking to whom he will devour.” 1 Peter 5:8 , 4 squads of soldiers with 4 soldiers per squad, Peter was not going to be freed. His goose was cooked, Herod just had to wait for daylight and Passover to end. Humanly there was no way for Peter to escape Herod’s twisted plan. But God! but "is always a crisis word. It indicates a change in direction. Note those praying as Peter sleeps doesn’t pray for his release, but that God, through the Holy Spirit would be with him. Luke tells us that “constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church” (v. 5).

Herod had his soldiers and his prisons; but the church had the power of prayer. Peter Wagner in his book Prayer Shield said “Mary’s house could have been one of the first houses of prayer. Guess who was leading the meeting? John Mark, a friend of Peter’s, you know it’s fitting that Peter’s very life was saved through intercession in Mary’s house.

One of the great problems we all face is not how to pray, but what to pray.

Years of trying to learn how and what to pray has taught me to spend more time listening to what the Lord wants me to ask than in asking. Here is a formula for praying for others: listen carefully, ask boldly, trust completely, and know that the answer is part of the tapestry of God’s greater plan. The basic motive of prayer is a sense of dependence.

Again, Peter Wagner “He uses everything for His glory and our growth, Prayer is the chief of our weapons in spiritual warfare. Many other weapons are available to be sure, but prayer stands at the top of the list.”

God heard, and plans began to unfold. Did you know 15 times in His gospel, and here in Acts he refers to Angels… Billy Graham “Angels are God's messengers whose chief business is to carry out his orders in the world…” he has given them the capacity to bring holy enterprises to a successful conclusion.

God had orchestrated Peter’s release. Do you get the picture? Those ragtag, beleaguered Believers possessed greater power than Herod’s hordes! The legions of Rome barred the door, but it only took one of God’s Holy Messengers to liberate the captive!

The answer to their prayers is standing at the door, but they don’t have faith enough to open the door and let him in! God could get Peter out of a prison, but He can’t get himself into a prayer meeting!

John Stott, The Spirit, the Church and the World, Bro. Stott sums up Acts 12: “The chapter opens with James dead, Peter in prison, and Herod triumphing; it closes with Herod dead, Peter free, and the word of God triumphing.”

What was the key? Prayer changed the tide.

The church was praying that God would intervene and work his will. As a result of their intercession, God moved as People Prayed. Ray Stedman says “This vicious, cruel tyrant, before whom human life meant nothing, was suddenly removed from the scene, because of a people who were responsive to God and dependent upon him, and who cried out to him.”

God is most glorified when we are most helpless and totally dependent on Him.

Believing prayer says God can; expectant prayer says God will. Jesus Himself taught, “And everything you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive” (Mt. 21:22). Real prayer always expects God to work in a supernatural way.

There is a mighty, mysterious element to prayer which, even as God's people gather and open their hearts and share their feelings with God, is somehow creating an atmosphere in which God can work in sudden, remarkable ways.

Peter Wagner, Prayer Shield “Whenever the human political authority over a population is involved, such as King Herod was, we can suspect that the spiritual battle is on cosmic level, and in that battle God wins!”