“When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, ‘Peter is 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 12:14-15).
The believers in the early Church faced the same challenges we face. One of their issues was grasping the power of prayer. They prayed, just as we do, but on this occasion were surprised when God answered their prayer with a miracle.
Peter had been locked in prison and Herod planned to execute him the next day. Believers gathered to pray for him and God sent an angel to release him from prison. When Peter went to the home where the prayer meeting was taking place the ones who were praying for him couldn’t believe that God had answered their prayer.
A minister in Australia told me that he once prayed for a boy who was blind in one eye and the boy yelled, “I can see.” The preacher yelled back, “You’re kidding!”
It’s difficult for some of us to believe that God answers prayer, but He does. Something in our human nature makes it hard to believe in a supernatural God who does supernatural things. But He exceeds our understanding and His power is immeasurable. Paul prayed, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us….” (Ephesians 3:20).
Don’t hesitate to pray boldly and don’t be surprised when God answers prayer. He still performs miracles.
