Pray Earnestly

But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him. - Acts 12:5 NLT

Very often we talk about prayer. People make statements like, prayer changes things, or one may say to another I’ll pray for you. Saying those words has become like a religious cliche at times. It sounds nice saying, “I’ll pray for you”, but do we really believe that when we pray things will change?

In the book of Acts 12, the church faced persecution, and the believers gathered to pray for Peter because he was thrown into prison. Not just thrown in prison, but there was no humanly possible way for Peter to escape. The bible describes the situation like this, Then he (King Herod) imprisoned him (Peter), placing him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each (16 soldiers), fastened with two chains between two soldiers. Others stood guard at the prison gate. (Acts 12:4,6 NLT) I’m sure Peter thought that he too would be killed like James was.

The church at that time turned to prayer, because they knew that was their only hope. So they gathered together and prayed. The scripture tells us that they prayed earnestly. The dictionary describes earnestly as a serious and intent mental state or an intense and serious state of mind. When the believers gathered to pray for Peter, they took the matter seriously, with the state of mind that something must happen when they pray. They were intentional and focus about the matter. Their state of mind was, something must happen when they pray; and something did happen. A miracle took place.

How many of us believe that something will happen when we pray? They prayed earnestly and yet when their prayer was answered they did not believe. Does this sound like some of us? Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, “Quick! Get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists – Acts 12:7 NLT. The believers’ prayer was answered in a powerful way. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results – James 5:16b NLT.

I hope by reading this devotion, that it will change or strengthen the way you see prayer. We are to take prayer seriously and have the state of mind, the belief, have faith that when we the righteous pray, something will happen. Not just because of our prayer, but because of who we are praying to YAHOVAH.