Scripture: Acts 12: 13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door.
14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”
15 “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”
16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.
Observation: I absolutely love this passage. Peter is imprisoned so the community of believers begins to pray for his safe release. Their prayers are answered and Peter is released. The chains simply fall away. Peter gets dressed and goes to the house where the believers are gathered together in prayer. He knocks on the door and the servant girl opens it. She is so surprised she closes the door on him and goes to tell everyone. The believers don’t even believe it is really him. Peter has to stay outside, continually knocking on the door until they finally open it and let him in.
Application: You’ve got to love this passage. They can’t make up things better than this one. Why do I like it? It shows that the believers are human. They are praying, praying, praying for Peter’s release but, when it happens, they are surprised. How true of life! How many times have I prayed for something, not believing it is really possible? Do I ever pray for something and, if my prayer came true, I would be surprised? I think if one is honest, there are always those things we pray for but don’t know how God can bring them to fruition. Then, when God shows off for us, we are actually surprised. Ye of little faith.
Prayer: Lord, let me pray believing that You are truly able to make that prayer come true.