August 16th - Acts 12:11

Acts 12:11 Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.” At this time, the early Church was growing fast, and this was making King Herod increasingly nervous. He was determined to tighten the screws, so he arranged for the killing of James, the brother of John. This went down very well with the Jews, so he decided to arrest Peter, the leader of the Church, and kept him under the closest possible surveillance. He was guarded by four squads of four soldiers each, and at night he was chained as he slept between two of the guards. King Herod must have assumed that nothing could possibly go wrong, but he hadn’t taken God into account! That night, an angel woke Peter up and led him out of the prison. I love the next bit. Having been miraculously set free, Peter suddenly realised that it was all true. Not unreasonably, he had assumed that it was a wonderful and totally unrealistic dream, but now he had to reckon with the fact that the impossible had happened. He really had been set free! One of the biggest challenges of living the Christian life is that you have to get used to the fact that God is in the business of doing miracles. He is doing them all the time. So, rather than assuming that everything is likely to stay more or less the same as it has always been, we need to have open arms to God’s daily miracles. Question What miracle are you praying for today? Prayer Lord God, I worship You for Your miraculous power and Your endless love. Amen