Often when God begins to do a significant work it is met with opposition or persecution.  This has been true throughout history and remains true today.  Whenever people bemoan the thought of Christians losing freedoms I think maybe that means God is about to do something big!  This was certainly true for the early church.  The more it grew the more opposition they began to face.  Let’s look together at one such encounter found in Acts 12 and see how God responds. 

It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3 When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. 6 The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. 8 Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. 9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. 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.”

The thing is God’s plans cannot be thwarted.  No matter what opposition the early church faced the Holy Spirit worked to overcome it.  When Peter gets arrested the church springs into action and prays.  God send an angel and rescues Peter.  There is power when people pray particularly when they pray in unison.  The church continues to grow and Peter continues his ministry.  Eventually he is martyred but not before he leads many more people into a life changing encounter with Jesus.  If you find yourself in the midst of opposition today be on the lookout for God to show up in a big way.  That’s often when He does His most amazing work!

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave