Thursday Scripture: Acts 12
Shhhhh! We're busy PRAYING!
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When Peter realized the angel had set him free from prison, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying.
Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door.
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.”
But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.
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OK, picture this.
Peter had been arrested for his faith, and people were praying that God would DO something.
You can just hear the prayer meeting now.
"Oh God, please spare Peter. Save his life, Lord, if it be possible, if it be thy divine will, we most humbly beseech you."
In the middle of the most long-winded prayer you ever heard, there was a knock at the door.
How rude!
Somebody was interrupting the prayer meeting!
"Shhhhh! We're busy PRAYING!"
Somebody said, "Rhoda! Get the door--we're busy praying for Peter."
Rhoda said, "Whoooo IS it?"
"It's me, Peter!"
Rhoda FREAKED OUT.
She left him at the door and went running back screaming,
"IT'S PETER IT'S PETER IT'S PETER IT'S PETER IT'S PETER!"
Everyone at the prayer meeting did an instant psych assessment.
"You're a NUT. Be quiet. We're busy praying for Peter."
Rhoda must have calmed down enough to get their attention.
"I'm telling you, I heard PETER at the door!"
So--in a moment of supreme faith they said,
"Oh, God! We knew it! Peter's dead--he's one of God's angels now. Peter's dead. Peter's dead."
There wasn't a dry eye in the house.
Meanwhile, back at the door, somebody was STILL knocking.
Peter was pleading, "QUICK--LET ME IN!"
I think that story is hilarious!
But it has a serious message.
Everybody was praying for a miracle--but no one believed it would happen.
When God answered their prayers, they still didn't believe it.
They believed the worst had happened instead of the best.
In this season of Corona, millions of people are praying.
You are probably one of them.
But are you expecting a miracle?
Do you believe God's best is at the door?
Or are you still expecting the worst?
I know...
Too many questions.
"Shhh! We're busy praying."