“Nothing is left untouched in light of the resurrection of Jesus.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – May 20, 2021
So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. Acts 12:5, ESV
In the season of Easter, we are invited to believe in the power of God to work miracles in our midst. We profess our belief in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, and that we believe the same power that raised Christ from the dead will one day give to us the same resurrection life. And while it is easy to isolate this belief to Easter Sunday, the invitation before us is to allow it to transform every aspect of our lives. Nothing is left untouched in light of the resurrection of Jesus.
If this is true, it has the power to dramatically transform our daily lives. Since death no longer has the final word, then there is no place or situation beyond the healing power of God. No matter how bleak or hopeless you may feel, the resurrection teaches us to be people of hope, asking the Lord to break in to our darkest night with the light of his love.
In Acts 12, we encounter the Apostle Peter in a moment of great trial and difficulty. Imprisoned for this faithfulness to Christ, his future was uncertain and the outcome unclear. Though he would count it an honor to suffer for our Lord, and eventually did die a martyr’s death, his hope was to faithfully share the life of Christ with as many people as he possibly could. He longed to see these early Christian communities formed and established, and they likewise looked to him for leadership and fatherly guidance. And so, the early church modeled a life of earnest prayer, believing that God was willing and able to intervene in this situation and bring hope when all seemed to be lost.
Do you and I pray with the same earnest resolve? More often than we care to admit, our prayer lives often take on a fatalistic and deterministic quality. Yes, we know God is able to answer prayer, yet this knowledge so often lives in the abstract recesses of our minds. Far too often, we fail to connect this belief to the concrete, lived experiences of our lives. However, this is exactly where the Lord wants to meet us and reveal his power to us. He is near to his people in prayer, and longs to bring his healing in the most remarkable of ways.
Let us cling to this hope, and choose every day to pray fervent and earnest prayers.
Prayer
Father, renew your church as a community committed to faithful and earnest prayer, we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Application
Consider keeping a prayer list, daily remembering certain people before the Lord in prayer.
Related Reading
2 Corinthians 1:11; Ephesians 6:18; James 5:16
Worship Resource
Robbie Seay Band: Psalm 3
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