NOT IMPOSSIBLE
Acts 12:5, 13-16 NKJV
Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.
And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. But they said to her, “You are beside yourself!” Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, “It is his angel.”
Now Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.
Peter had been imprisoned after the death of James, one of the original twelve disciples. Peter was totally bound with two chains, and two guards were right beside him. And there were guards outside of the cell door. This was an improbable situation. I say improbable because the word means not likely to be true. But this was not an impossible situation. Impossible means that it cannot exist. Because with God, all things are possible. Although the early church may have not believed that.
The church was praying, and they were praying constantly for Peter’s release. I have to give them credit for that. They were meeting and praying and asking God for Peter’s life. They did believe that God could deliver him, but they had no inkling that God would do it the way it was done. Maybe they had it figured out that Herod would spare Peter’s life. That Herod would have a change of heart. The reason I say that is because when Peter was released by the angel and went to the house where people were praying, no one believed the girl who declared that Peter was at the door. They thought this girl, Rhoda, had lost her mind. Now these were the people praying and the answer was standing outside and no one believed it. They even went as far as to say that it wasn’t Peter; it was his angel. To me, that is even more far-fetched. An angel that sounds like Peter is outside the door.
Rhoda wasn’t backing down and Peter kept knocking. When they opened the door and saw the man they had been praying for, they were astonished. In theory, they believed God could rescue Peter, just not that way.
APPLICATION
I can’t fault the early church. There have been times that I have prayed and had it all figured out how God was going to do something. And that’s the problem. I was thinking God had options A, B, and C. While God has options D, E, and F. So when it comes to praying, we are better off asking God for His help, not directing how that help will come. God boggled the minds of the early church, and He has not lost His ability to go way beyond improbable and do the impossible. The angel who appeared to Mary, the mother of Jesus, said it succinctly, “for with God nothing will be impossible.”
PRAYER
Lord, help me to take the limits off of You when I pray. Your power is way beyond anything I ask or think!