Faithful and Faithless - Thursday January 07, 2016
So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. Acts 12:5 ESV
The Book of Acts shows us how faithful and faithless people respond to the storms and trials of life. In the book of Acts the early church in Jerusalem was growing like a weed. About that same time King Herod decided to persecute the church. First he murdered James and then he arrested Peter. He most likely planned to kill Peter too.
Imagine the first century church in Jerusalem. One of their pastors had just been killed, and another pastor had been arrested. Today's verse says the church made "earnest prayer" for Peter. That was the response of a faithful person. A major, discouraging trial hit the church, and they started earnestly praying. Here's what happened next: Peter was sleeping between two guards, bound in chains, with other guards at the locked door. God answered the prayers of the church and sent an angel in to rescue Peter. He miraculously led Peter to freedom!
The next morning when the guards woke up, it says there was no small disturbance. Multiple guards with Public Enemy #1 chained between them – and he escapes?! Ludicrous! When King Herod heard about that, he questioned the guards himself and had them executed. That was the response of a faithless person. "There is no way Peter escaped miraculously! These guards released him and they are lying to me, so they must die."
When life hits you with a big, discouraging trial, do you pray? What is your first reaction? People of faith pray when life hits them with trials. Faithless people refuse to see God's hand in life, and so they react differently.
Submitted by:
Josh Whitney
The Rock Church
Taylorsville, Utah
One-Year Reading Plan:
Genesis 16:1-18:15
Matthew 6:1-24
Psalms 7:1-17
Proverbs 2:1-5
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SCRIPTURE REFERENCB-ES: Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible B) The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are from the Holy, Bible, New International Version, copyright B) 1973, 1978, 1984 by InternaB-tional Bible Society; (NKJV) are from New King James Version B) 1982 by Thomas Nelson; (NLT) are from the New Living Translation, B) 1996, Tyndale House Publishers; (ESV) are from English Standard VersionB., B) 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers; (TM) are from The Message B) 1993 by NavPress Publishers.