Praying and believing

King Herod began arresting some who belonged to the church, including James, one of the original 12 disciples. He put James to death and the king saw how this pleased the Jews. And he wanted to keep the people happy.

So, next up? Peter. Peter is thrown in prison and set to be brought to public trial. His family and friends begin praying for him. Around the clock.

An angel comes to the prison where Peter is and helps maneuver a prison break. Once free, he goes to a house where many people gathered to pray for him, knocks on the door and a girl answers. She is overjoyed to see Peter, forgets to let him in, and runs back to tell everyone he was at the door. “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.” (Acts 12:15)

When you pray big prayers, do you believe God will answer them? Or are you praying out of duty or because it’s what you think you should pray, or it’s just been the thing you’ve been praying as routine for so long? Are you praying because it’s the “Christian” thing to do and it puts your mind at peace? They were committed to giving their time and energy to praying. But hadn’t given the same time and energy to believing. It’s an act of faith to believe.