Believe

I was reading today in the book of Acts about Peter's miraculous escape from prison. I won't type the entire story, but you can read it in Acts 12:1-18. Basically, King Herod had arrested some Christians with the intention of persecuting them. He was partly Jewish and he persecuted the Christians in order to please the Jewish leaders who opposed them, hoping that it would solidify his position over the territories he ruled. He had James, the brother of John, killed by the sword. When he saw that this made the Jews happy, he arrested Peter as well. Peter was arrested during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the week-long festival directly following Passover. This was a strategic move by the King because there were more Jews in the city than usual and Herod could impress the most people that way. Verse 5 says, "So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him." Herod intended to bring him to trial, and I'm sure his plan was to have him executed as well. But, the earnest prayers of the believers changed the outcome of his situation.

The night before Peter was set for trial, he was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and there were armed guards at the entrance. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. He told him to get up quickly and the chains fell off his wrists. Then the angel told him to put on his clothes and sandals, wrap his cloak around him and follow him. Peter did what he was told, but he thought he was seeing a vision. He didn't think what the angel was saying and doing was really happening. The angel led him past the guards, and the iron gate that led to the city opened by itself. They went through it and when they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Verse 11 says, "Then Peter came to himself and said, 'Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.' "

You have to picture this scenario. Here the guy was thrown in prison for no reason other than he was a Christian, he was stripped, beaten, locked in chains, and basically was awaiting certain death. He gets woken up out of a dead sleep by an angel who pokes him in the side. He didn't gently rouse him and speak quiet soothing words. He poked him hard and said, "Get up! Get your clothes on and follow me." No wonder Peter thought he was dreaming. The guards were still all around him. So, he's basically sleep walking through the city until the angel takes off and he's left alone in the dark. I love how verse 12 starts. "When this had dawned on him, (meaning, that the Lord had just rescued him)..." How long do you think he stood there wondering what the heck was going on? I mean seriously, what would be going through your head?

So, he goes to the house where everyone was gathered, praying for him to be set free from prison. He knocks on the door at the outer entrance and a servant girl came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed that she ran back to the others without even opening the door and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!" They told her she was out of her mind. When she kept insisting that it was him they said that it must be his angel. But Peter kept on knocking (I wouldn't have been so patient), and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished! Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and he went in and told them how the Lord had rescued him. Here they were, praying for Peter's release, and yet when he showed up at the house they were completely shocked. Why were they shocked? Their prayers were answered even as they were praying. But when the answer arrived at the door, they didn't believe it.

How many times do we do the same thing? We pour our hearts out to God and sometimes even cry out in agony with our prayers. Then, when they are answered, we are surprised. Like, oh my gosh, I can't believe God listened to me! Why wouldn't he listen to you? He loves you. His very desire is to bless those who earnestly seek him. We should be people of faith who believe that God answers the prayers of those who seek his will. When you pray, believe you'll get an answer. And when the answer comes, don't be surprised, be thankful! That's why I've named my blog, "It's Not Weird, It's Just God." I hear so many people say, "That's weird. I don't understand why I suddenly have extra money in my bank account." Or, "That's weird. When my brother went back in for a repeat cat scan, the tumor was gone." It's not weird, it's God! He is in the business of answering prayers. He says to seek and we will find, knock and the door shall be opened, ask and it shall be given to you. It doesn't always mean that it will be answered exactly how we think it should be answered. We have to trust Him that he knows what is best for us. His timing is perfect, not ours.

If you are believing God for something, then keep on doing just that: believing! Believe with no doubt in your heart that God will hear you and answer you. He will not fail you! Oh, by the way, King Herod ended up dying what was considered to be one of the worst deaths. He was eaten by worms from the inside out. Pretty nasty, no? The enemy after our souls has an even worse fate ahead of him. We can rejoice knowing that our suffering will come to an end and Satan IS already defeated. He may be allowed to mess with us for now, but our lives belong to Jesus. We are His and we have won!