The church earnestly prayed for the Holy Spirit to release Peter from prison, and that’s exactly what the Spirit did. Peter went to the location of the prayer meeting and knocked on the door. Rhoda, a house servant, recognized Peter’s voice—but in great joy, she left Peter outside, ran to the praying believers and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”
“You. Are. Out. Of. Your. Mind, Rhoda,” they told her When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.” Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. (Paraphrase of Acts12:12-16)
Lord Jesus, thank you for including this comical and convicting story in the pages of your Word. For it exposes the depth of our unbelief, and highlights the grace and greatness of your faithfulness. Too often, this scene represents the “prayer meeting” going on in our hearts—inside my heart. We faithfully pray, but faithlessly doubt—especially when our earnest prayers continue for weeks, months—even years.
But just when we least expect it, “Peter knocks”—not always literally, but sometimes in ways better than we could have imagined, and in bigger ways than we actually prayed. That happened to me this week, and I praise you, Jesus. After two years, a door opened and grace came inside. Great is your faithfulness, perfect is your timing, and generous is your heart—even when we doubt all three.
Over the past two days, I can see how my two years of praying went from prayers of shock-and-longing unto prayers of pleading-and-beseeching. Then I started to pray, “How, long O Lord?”—then in weariness, I entered a season of “imprecatory prayers”—wanting to “call down fire” (Lk.9:51-56)—I had become so tired, angry, and sad. But you never stopped praying Jesus. “Peter has knocked”—and it wasn’t his ghost, but your Spirit. Thank you, Jesus, and So Very Amen.