By Adeshola Abraham
Acts12 tells the incredible story of Peter's supernatural deliverance from prison. He gets thrown into jail for his faith in Jesus, has a public execution date set for the next day. Meanwhile, the church gathers, holds an all-night prayer meeting and in the wee hours of the morning, Peter shows up at that very prayer meeting. As it turned out, God was listening and doing the miraculous. Now, the point here is that, God miraculously freed Peter but James was unjustly executed. Why? Why did God respond miraculously to prayer for Peter but silent to prayer for James? Both were in his inner circle, his core three disciples, so it wasn't that he favored one over the other. Surely the church prayed for both. It is safe to assume they responded in the same way for James as they did for Peter. So why God? Why let James die if you have the power to teleport Peter to safety?
Well, I don't know. That's the only honest response. But what I do know is that, God works slowly out of compassion, not apathy. And He does as He pleases
What I learnt from this book of Acts is this- a resilient community that gathered to pray, even after they had tried it once before only to watch darkness win, at least from their point of view. They kept on praying in the face of unanswered prayer. They persisted in prayer. The question is: Can we become again a persistently praying kind of people? Can we recover the legacy of our ancient ancestors, lost somewhere along the way? Can we preserve it, enflesh it in our bodies, express it in our lives?
"Keep on asking and it will be given to you. Keep seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you." That's the invitation Jesus offered us. And anyone who takes him up on it and prays this way long enough will eventually find themselves on the doorstep of resilience. And I pray your hope of answers to prayers will not be dashed in Jesus name.
Good Morning and a blessed weekend.
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