A Story of Prayer and Fasting

Acts 12: Peter is in trouble. Serious trouble. He's been put in jail by an enemy king, with four men to guard him at all times. He's chained to them, locked in a cell, locked in a prison. One of his best friends, James, has been recently killed by this king-who-means-business. There's no getting away.

EXCEPT... "the church prayed very earnestly for him." 

Peter is woken in the middle of the night by a whisper of an angel. Chains fall off. Doors swing open. Peter thinks that he's seeing a vision... until he finds himself standing in the middle of a street, an escaped prisoner.  Peter is back to ministry, back to leading the church, probably from a secret place until the enemy king dies soon after.

The very next story in the Bible also involves prayer. Acts 13: The leadership team in the church of Antioch, in Syria, are praying and fasting together. And in the midst of this time of intense prayer, the Lord speaks: "Dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the work I have for them." And so, after more fasting and prayer, the team in Antioch lays hands of prayer on Barnabas and Saul and sends them on their way, beginning the greatest missionary movement the world has ever seen.

Two different stories of how the trajectory of three key leaders - and the church they led, and the world they impacted - were changed as a result of prayer in the church.

If the church had not prayed... would Peter have been killed, significantly impacting the young movement of followers of Jesus in Jerusalem?  If the leaders had not fasted and prayed... would Barnabas and Saul have stayed comfortably in Antioch, with the rest of the world having to wait decades or more to hear of Jesus?

In this time and place, we are weak in our prayer lives. But what if we, together, took a step towards praying and fasting?  I'm inviting others to a First Friday Prayer. On the first Friday of the month skip breakfast... or more. Pray for our pastors, our churches, that God would raise the next generation. If you'd like, join me on zoom. Let's see what chains come off. Let's see who God calls out on a journey to change the world.