Tag Archives: angel

While The Church Prayed

Prayer, , ,

WHILE THE CHURCH PRAYED

“Then the time came for Herod to bring him out for the kill. That night, even though shackled to two soldiers, one on either side, Peter slept like a baby. And there were guards at the door keeping their eyes on the place. Herod was taking no chances!

“Suddenly there was an angel at his side and light flooding the room. The angel shook Peter and got him up: ‘Hurry!’ The handcuffs fell off his wrists. The angel said, ‘Get dressed. Put on your shoes.’ Peter did it. Then, ‘Grab your coat and let’s get out of here.’ Peter followed him but didn’t really believe it was an angel — he thought he was dreaming.” Acts 12:6- 9 The Message).

While the church prayed, God was up to something! There were a few unusual things about this scenario. Firstly, Peter was on the eve of possible execution yet he was asleep and the guards were awake. Shouldn’t he have been awake, given the circumstances, tossing and turning with anxiety about his fate on the morrow? What does that say about Peter’s state of mind?

Was he, like Paul in similar circumstances later on, at perfect peace knowing that God was in charge? Whether he lived or died was not the issue. To live was Christ and to die was gain. That tells us a whole lot about Christ’s victory on the cross. “Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” Hebrews 2:14-15 (NIV).

While Peter slept, the church prayed. The guards were watching; the church was praying; and God was working! He dispatched an angel and set the ball rolling for an amazing rescue. The prison cell was ablaze with light, yet the guards saw nothing. The angel woke Peter and spoke to him; his shackles clanked to the ground — yet the guards heard nothing. Were they blind and deaf?

Peter responded like a sleepwalker — no questions, no protests. Like a robot he got up, put on his clothes and shoes at the angel’s command and followed him out of the prison cell while the soldiers kept on guarding him! He thought he was dreaming — wouldn’t you?

Even though he had slept like a baby, what was going on in his subconscious mind that would trigger dreams? In the natural, he would probably have been morbidly dwelling on the outcome of tomorrow. Nightmares, not dreams, should have plagued his sleep. But he didn’t. Instead, he thought he was having a pleasant dream about being rescued.

“Past the first guard and then the second, they came to the iron gate that led into the city. It swung open before them on its own and they were out on the street, free as a breeze. At the first intersection the angel left him, going his own way. That’s when Peter realised it was no dream. ‘I can’t believe it — this really happened! The Master sent His angel and rescued me from Herod’s little production and the spectacle the Jewish mob was looking forward to.'” Acts 12:10-11 (The Message).

While the guards continued to watch, Peter and the angel slipped quietly out of the prison, locked doors and gates opening and closing for them, and neither guards nor prisoners stirred. Only when the cold night air touched his face did Peter realise that this was no dream. He really was free! God had miraculously thwarted Herod’s little macabre entertainment and left a whole group of soldiers with egg on their faces.

It is God’s way to partner with His people in getting His will done on earth. John Wesley said, “God does nothing but in answer to prayer.” The church in Jerusalem did not need to be made aware of Peter’s situation. They prayed and God acted. And that’s how God still administers His will on earth today.

Phase Two

Christian Life, ,

PHASE TWO

“Cornelius stared hard, wondering if he was seeing things. Then he said, ‘What do you want, sir?’

“The angel said, ‘Your prayers and neighbourly acts have brought you to God’s attention. Here’s what you are to do. Send men to Joppa to get Simon, the one everyone calls Peter. He is staying with Simon the Tanner, whose house is down by the sea.’

“As soon as the angel was gone, Cornelius called two servants and one particularly devout soldier from the guard. He went over with them in great detail everything that had happened, and then sent them off to Joppa.” Acts 10:4-8 (The Message).

Cornelius was busy carrying out his duty to God faithfully. He was not aware that there was much more to this “religion” that he followed that he knew about. As far as he was concerned, he was doing what was required of him and doing it well and with all his heart.

But God had His eye on him. Cornelius was not one of His chosen people, but He was about to show this Gentile that His desire was to open the door of His grace to all nations. This had been His plan from the beginning. He had chosen Israel, not to have exclusive rights to His love and favour, but to be the vehicle through which He would reveal Himself to the world.

The Israelites had completely misinterpreted God’s requirement that they separate themselves from the idolatrous nations around them. God wanted them to be uncontaminated, not exclusive and isolated. They thought they were better than every other nation in spite of hob-knobbing with them and practising their wicked idolatry.

Instead of revealing the true nature of God as a loving and caring Father, they hated and despised the Gentiles, refusing to interact with them in any way. God would have to do something out of the ordinary to break down their prejudice and convince His followers that the good news of Jesus was for all nations, not only the Jews.

Phase one was to alert Cornelius that there was something more in store for him. He was still living in a spiritual twilight zone and needed the supernatural intervention of God to move him into the light of new life in Jesus.

Cornelius was not used to anything as spectacular as a vision. He was flabbergasted and bewildered by the appearance of an angel. All he could stammer was ‘What do you want, sir?’ That the angel actually replied to him was even more of a mystery. Amazingly, he did not question his sanity or hesitate to do what he was instructed to do.

This was too dramatic and intrusive an experience to ignore. He called his subordinates to go at once to Joppa to fetch the man about whom he had received detailed instructions.

It is not often that anyone catches a glimpse of the supernatural realm of God which is all around us, but which we cannot see. In the ordinary course of life, we live and experience the natural world in the conviction that the realm of God’s presence is as near to us as our breath; but there are unusual times when God pulls aside the curtain for a brief moment for a specific purpose.

Cornelius needed just such a moment to convince him that God had noticed him and wanted him to enter that supernatural realm by faith in Jesus. He stood on the threshold of the greatest experience of his life when he would step over from darkness to light, from death to life and from the dominion of Satan into the kingdom of God.

This was not just another religious exercise. God was setting up an encounter with His Son that would transform Cornelius’ life forever, and open the door for a heavily prejudiced Jew to understand the enormity of the grace that sent His Son to be the Saviour of the world.