Fervent Prayer
Acts chapter 4 tells us that Peter and John were
put in prison by a religious sect known as the Sadducees for preaching a gospel
that declared the resurrection. The
rulers in Jerusalem got together, questioned them, threatened them, and then
let them go. What did Peter and John do?
They called a prayer meeting and prayed for boldness (verse 29). What was the result of that prayer meeting?
Verse 31–33 tells us that God granted them favor.
Acts chapter 12 tells us that King Herod had James executed and sought to persecute the Christians. Because some were pleased with this course of action, he had Peter arrested also. But the church prayed fervently on Peter’s behalf (verse 5), and what happened? The angel of the Lord came and broke Peter out of jail.
Perhaps one difference between the prayers of the earliest Christians and the prayers of today’s church is, they prayed fervently, aggressively, seriously and with great intensity. They had to. Their very survival depended on it. The heat of resistance was prevalent in the first century. Persecution was real.
Then there was Nero, the Roman Emperor from 54 to 68 A.D. This guy was a real piece of work. He had his mother executed. Nero was no friend of Christians. Historians tell us that he had the captured Christians set on fire to light his gardens at night. Many believers who were hunted down by Nero’s police, were used as sport, and fed to wild beasts during events at the coliseum in Rome. Most believe that the Apostle Paul was tortured by Nero and eventually beheaded in Rome.
Perhaps our situation is different, in that our lives are not threatened daily. However, we too have an adversary, the devil, with more hatred for the Christian than Nero. Do we not need to pray in our evil day? What more motivation do we need? Fervent, aggressive prayer yields amazing results.
Pastor Bruce Freeman
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