Here is what I have discovered over the years of not wanting to pay repairmen or mechanics: jobs are a lot easier if you have the right tool for the job. How many of us have used a butter knife as a screwdriver, or a screwdriver as a prybar—or even used the end of a screwdriver as a hammer?
No matter the job, we all have our favorites. My mom had her favorite mixing bowl, and when I make my world-famous pancakes, I have a favorite bowl and whisk. After making pancakes for the men’s breakfast at church, I almost brought my own from home—not that the church’s weren’t any good. They just weren’t mine.
We reach for favorite tools, lucky shirts, a go-to pitch, or the club that works best at 150 yards. But life brings situations where our 8 iron won’t get the job done. Bills pile up. Children and parents get sick. Jobs are lost. A friend faces cancer. In real life, my lucky whisk and my 8 iron are of no use.
What do we do when life’s real problems leave us seemingly out of options?
Acts 12 shows the church facing persecution. 14 years after Christ’s death and resurrection, Peter is in prison after James has been executed. He is guarded around the clock, chained between soldiers. The situation seems hopeless. If God doesn’t act, Peter may be dead by morning.
The church’s weapon of choice: prayer. Acts 12:5 says, “So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.”
Prayer is God’s secret weapon, given to every believer. It is God inviting us to join him in what he is doing. Prayer is not us telling God what to do. It is joining Jesus in saying, “Not my will, but your will be done.”
The word earnestly matters. There is intensity in this kind of prayer. Jesus prayed earnestly in the Garden of Gethsemane. The believers gathered at Mary’s house understood that same urgency. They had seen God at work, but Peter’s situation seemed especially serious. They kept praying—and when the angel led Peter out of prison, he went straight to the house where he knew his friends were praying.
Jesus taught us to ask, seek, and knock. Asking is the beginning. Seeking takes us deeper: like asking if anyone has seen your car keys, then searching for them yourself. When we seek through prayer, we become personally involved in the need. Knocking is persistence: we keep praying until the door is opened.
The church in Acts asked, sought, and knocked. They felt the anguish of Peter’s situation, and they wouldn’t rest. They prayed consistently and persistently. In fact, when God answered, they were so surprised they didn’t believe it at first—and left Peter standing in the street!
The battle is real, but our weapon is powerful. James 5:16 says, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” None of us are qualified by our own strength, but all of us are invited to join God in what he is doing—in our lives, in our families, among our neighbors and coworkers, and around the world.
Where do you need to point this powerful weapon? Perhaps it starts with asking God to develop earnestness and consistency in your own prayer life. Perhaps someone around you needs you to keep seeking and knocking on their behalf.
Don’t give up or be discouraged if the answer doesn’t come right away. Let us be known as a people who earnestly pray—because God is at work, and we are joining him in the battle.
Pray for me – I have to go buy a new screwdriver!
Ted Harris
Associate Pastor