Prayer & Faith

Introduction

Would you say that you’re a trusting person? You find it easy to believe what somebody tells you. Or to take it even further that you find it easy to believe in somebody or something. Or would you say, on the other hand, that you have trust issues? That you find it difficult to believe what somebody tells you. Or you find it difficult to put your trust in somebody or something. Usually when it comes to trust, there’s the spectrum, isn’t there? On one end of that spectrum, there’s what we call gullible people. Those people that just believe anything and everything. Growing up, I grew up with a lady that was very gullible. She and her husband were my mom and dad’s best friends. She was very gullible. And my dad loved that.

He convinced her she had bought a set of screwdrivers for her husband for Christmas. My dad convinced her to return them to Sears because she had mistakenly brought metric screwdrivers. And her husband needed standard screwdriver. He was gullible. She’d believe anything you tell her. On the other end of that spectrum is the cynic, the guy with trust issues that finds it difficult to believe anything or anybody. I won’t say where I fit on that spectrum. I won’t say that I have trust issues, but I am wearing belt and suspenders. So you draw your own conclusions where I fit in the trust relationship. What about your relationship to God? Are you a trusting person? Are you a cynic when it comes to God? And specifically this morning, I want us to talk about faith in God, but I specifically want to talk about one arena in which we need to have faith in God and one area of our Christian life where our faith should be foundational.

And that’s in our prayer life. This morning I’d like first to talk about prayer and faith. As our context this morning, I want to ask you to turn in your New Testament with me to the book of Acts, chapter 12. Acts chapter 12 will be our text this morning. In fact, I ask you to put your bookmark or your finger there. We’ll be looking at other text of Scripture, but we’ll be coming back to this as our text. Let’s set the context. Acts chapter 12 is a pivotal chapter in the book of Acts. It’s kind of the last hurrah, if you will, of Peter being the main character of the book of Acts. From here on, the Apostle Paul takes over as the main character of the book of Acts.

It’s also a pivotal event because the persecution against Christianity and the church hits a climax. We had seen in chapter 7 the death of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Here in Acts chapter 12, we have another first. It’s the first death of an apostle. Well, really the second, isn’t it? Judas was the first, but James is the first death of an apostle at the hands of a persecutor. That persecutor is Herod, the text will say. This is Herod Agrippa I. He’s the grandson of Herod the Great. Herod Agrippa I is a twisted individual. Maybe not surprising, because his upbringing was in Rome and his upbringing was in Rome because he needed to go somewhere after his grandfather killed his father. And so after he spent that time in Rome, he ends up with this title of the king of Judea, and Herod arrests in chapter 12 of the book of Acts.

He’s going to arrest two apostles. He arrests James, and then following that, he’ll arrest Peter. The first part of Acts chapter 12, the first just a couple verses really, tell us about not just the arrest of the apostle James, but the death. Herod puts James the Apostle to death shortly after his arrest. That event, sadly, but maybe not surprisingly, pleases the Jewish people. And so, as any good slimy politician, he’s going to double down on that. And so now he arrests Peter. And he puts Peter in prison with the intent of doing the exact same thing all over again. Arresting Peter and killing Peter, just like he had arrested and killed James. But we know the story. As Peter is in prison, in chains between two guards, they’re guards outside of the prison bars.

There’s an earthquake. Peter is released from prison. The angel escorts him through the different levels of security in this maximum security prison. And then finally Peter is let go and the angel disappears. Peter goes to the house where the Christians have been praying for Peter. And he knocks on the gate, and young lady Rhoda comes to the gate, and she sees that it’s Peter, the one they’ve been praying for, the one who’s been in prison and would shortly be dead if Herod has his way. And she is so shocked at the sight of Peter that in her shock and excitement, she forgets to unlock the gate to let him in, and she runs back in to the Christians who have been praying and says, Peter’s here.

And they say, Peter’s not here, you’re crazy. Now it might be his angel. We don’t really know what they meant by that. It might be his angel. Two possibilities, I think. Number one is they maybe thought Peter had a guardian angel. That belief was common among Jewish people at that day. And so maybe this is Peter’s guardian angel. They may have meant by that, if this is Peter’s guardian angel and he’s here, that might be bad news because Peter’s dead. He doesn’t need guarding anymore. And so the angels just coming to let us know that. I, you know, I don’t know. But that’s one possibility. Another possibility is by angel, they may be more meant his spirit, that this is Peter, the disembodied spirit of Peter, who is now here.

Herod has done the dirty deed. He has killed Peter, and Peter’s spirit is here, much like Jesus had those resurrection appearances before his ascension. Peter is making an appearance before he goes to wherever the dead go. But they’re shocked, they’re astonished that Peter is out of prison and alive. They finally accept that fact. Peter comes in with them, they rejoice, and all is well.

1. Prayer Must Be Offered in Sincere, Devoted Faith

True, sincere faith must be a part of our prayer life. The first lesson that we see from this is that prayer absolutely must be offered in sincere, devoted faith. Are you there in Acts chapter 12? It says in Acts chapter 12, verse 5, Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. Peter’s in prison. The church is praying constantly for Peter. What was their prayer? What do you think they were praying for? The text doesn’t specifically tell us, but I think we can safely guess, can’t we? I imagine they were praying for two things. Number one is his safety. They knew Herod. They knew what had happened to James. They were praying, don’t let him die like James died.

Let him be safe, let him live. And I imagine the second thing they were praying is God free him from that prison. Don’t let him stay in prison. Let him live, don’t let him die, and let him get out of prison. Don’t you imagine that? Maybe there were other things in those prayers, but that had to be high on the list. Skip down to verse 12 of chapter 12. So when he had considered this, this is after Peter has been released from prison, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose sermon name was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. And so they were praying constantly. They had even come together to pray. And again, I imagine they were praying for those two things.

Let him live, let him be safe, and let him get out of prison. Now, first, let’s commend them for what they were doing. They were praying. They were praying constantly, and they were praying together. That’s a good example for us. Constant prayer and communal prayer. Very beneficial, very good. We need to practice those things. Sometimes in dire situations, when there’s nothing else to do, prayer’s the only answer. Now we would put an asterisk there and a footnote to say that’s not the only time we should pray. We shouldn’t use prayer as our only as a last resort. But prayer can be our last resort. We’ve all been there. When there’s nothing that we can do, we have no physical earthly answers, and so there’s only thing, one thing for the child of God to do, and that’s get on your knees and pray.

And so they’re to be commended for that. But where we begin to question them after we commend them for praying, constantly and praying together, is were they praying in faith? They were praying constantly. They had gathered together to pray, but notice where maybe they had fallen short.

Peter, when he had considered this, came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. She recognized Peter’s voice, but because of her gladness, she didn’t open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. But they said to her, You’re beside yourself. She kept insisting that it was so, so they said, It is his angel. Now Peter continued knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Now the reason I might question carefully, carefully question their faith in this relationship is again what were they praying for? Peter’s safety and Peter’s release.

Who were they praying to? The most powerful being in the universe. And when their prayers were answered, they didn’t believe it. You’re crazy, Rhoda. That can’t be Peter. Peter can’t be out of prison. Now we’ve been praying to the all-powerful God that he would get Peter out of prison, but Peter’s not out of prison. We’re astonished that Peter’s here alive and well. Now we’ve been praying for Peter’s safety and health, but we’re absolutely astonished that Peter’s alive and well. Do you see my point there? But I wonder about their faith in their praying. And maybe more pertinent to the hour, I wonder about my faith in praying. I’ve caught myself doing this. In a service such as this, I was called upon to lead in prayer, and I prayed for a brother that some did not know the extent of his health condition.

And so I prayed fervently for that brother that God would give him healing, would help him. After services, some of those brothers and sisters that didn’t know the extent of his health problems came to me thinking I knew something they didn’t, since I had prayed, prayed for Brother Williams. Said, what is it with Brother Williams? Oh. Not going to make it. And I got home that evening and I thought, did I pray in faith? I prayed to the most powerful being in the universe. God heal this man. And then not ten minutes later, I said, he ain’t gonna make it.

Notice what James says in James chapter 1. James chapter 1, beginning in verse 5, James is going to underline this point for us. James 1, verse 5. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. There’s prayer. Let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. Let him ask in faith. In faith, with no doubting. For he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. Now notice the warning in verse 7 for let not that man suppose that he’ll receive anything from the Lord. He’s a double-minded man, unstable in his way. James says you better pray in faith, doubting nothing, because if you doubt, you’re not going to get anything.

Prayer must be accompanied with faith. Faith and prayer, Scripture teaches us, are so intertwined, or should be, that they cannot be separated. Let’s think of three ways that prayer and faith are so connected. Number one, if I don’t have faith, strong enough faith, it will diminish my prayer life. The frequency of that prayer. In fact, can I be so bold to say this? That I can measure my faith by my prayer life. If I’m not praying, it might be because I don’t believe. Secondly, as James tells us in James chapter 1, as this story, I believe may illustrate that if I’m not praying in faith, it may diminish the effectiveness of my prayer. Pray in faith, nothing doubting, James says. The third thing that I think Scripture teaches us is that prayer will increase my faith.

The more I pray, the more evidence there is of my faith, but also the more I pray, the greater my faith will be. Haven’t you seen that to be the case? That puts me closer to God as I speak to him in prayer and as I let him speak to me through his word. You know, Jesus made a curious statement to his disciples while he was here upon the earth. He said if they had the right kind of faith, they could move mountains. There’s no historical record, biblical or otherwise, of the apostles’ ever moving mountain. So what did he mean by that? I don’t think he meant that literally. I think he meant to them that they could do remarkable things if they had faith. We don’t live in that apostolic age.

2. Humbly Accept God’s Answer, No Matter What

We don’t have the miraculous powers that they had, but don’t let us diminish that promise of faith that we still can do remarkable things, or more properly, God can still do remarkable things through us if we have enough faith. And like those disciples, I’m saying to my God today, Lord, increase my faith. I need more faith. I need a stronger faith. And I need my prayers to reflect that. The second lesson we see in this is that yes, we pray in sincere faith, but that faith must not be diminished when we don’t receive the answer that we want to receive. That we must humbly accept God’s answer, no matter what it is. Because let’s be honest. There are so many moments in our life where it seems like God isn’t there.

Will you go back to Acts chapter 12? They were praying for Peter, and although I might question their sincere faith in that, God releases Peter. Peter will not die at Herod’s hand at this moment. Their prayers were answered, weren’t they? They’ll rejoice at that. They’re astonished, but that that household that were praying for Peter, don’t you imagine that once they finally accepted the fact that their prayers had been answered, God had released Peter safely, unharmed, that they wept tears of joy, that they rejoiced, they hugged his neck till it was sore, and they probably bowed and prayed again, thanking God for all of those answered prayer. But I told you that belts and suspenders, man, is a bit cynical. And so I have to wonder about this.

In that gathering at Mary’s house, where they were praying for Peter, and Peter showed up, and everybody’s just tickled to death that their prayers have been answered, and God answered those prayers and released Peter. Were member of James’ family there? James, who had been imprisoned by Herod and killed. And had they prayed for James. God, keep James safe. Don’t let Herod kill him. Father, please get him out of prison and let him continue to do your work.

Like they had now prayed for Peter. Let me tell you a true story about my mother.

And not that there’s a good kind of cancer, but she had a very bad kind of cancer. Cancer in her sinuses. And they were going to have to do radiation, chemotherapy, because surgery was too dangerous at her age and where the cancer was located. So they did radiation. The radiation was horrible, as you know. It rotted all of her teeth out. It burned her throat and the inside of her mouth so that she couldn’t eat. They had to put a feeding tube in her stomach. My mother had other health conditions and was in advanced age, and the radiation just almost killed her. So they had to put her in the hospital. She’s about halfway through those dreaded radiation treatments and the chemotherapy. It was equally horrendous.

And two weeks she was in the hospital and they were able to get her strength built back up. But for those two weeks, they had had to halt the cancer treatment.

You’re good to resume your cancer treatments. The bad news is because of the delay, we’ve got to start all over. We can’t pick back up where we were.

From square one with your radiation and chemotherapy.

I can’t do that. You sent mom back to the surgeon and said it was risky. Everybody advised against it, but that will be your only option to live is to have that very risky surgery. The surgeon said, okay, you probably won’t survive the surgery, but if that’s what you want to do, we’ll do it. But I need to do a scan first. See the size of the tumor, the location, all of that, so we can map those things out. Did the scan, came back in, my mom and dad pensively waiting in the doctor’s room, and the surgeon said, Mrs. Chapman, I don’t have an explanation. But you don’t have a tumor anymore. And we rejoiced.

Their children had died of cancer. And here I was jumping up and down that God had answered my prayers, but he hadn’t answered theirs.

People were celebrating the answered prayers for Peter. That’s not fair. You answered his prayers. You love Peter more than you love James? You love the people who are praying for Peter more than you love those of us who are praying for James. How is that fair, God? But know this. God never promised fair. Turn with me in the old testament to the book of Job. Job’s life wasn’t fair. That was the whole point of the story, wasn’t it? I’m going to the end of the book of Job, Job 38. Job questions God to the unfairness and the inequity in his life. Why is this happening to me, God? I’m a righteous man and I’m getting kicked in the teeth. I can look out my window at all the wicked people, and they’re prospering and things are going good for them.

How is that fair, God? And for 37 chapters, Job cries out to God, This isn’t fair. Finally, God answers in chapter 38. But he doesn’t answer the way we think he might, and the way Job hoped he would. God says this in Job 38 began with me in verse 1. The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, Who is this? Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man, and I will question you, and you will answer me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know. Who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? To who or who laid its cornerstone?

When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. God says to Job, Job, where were you? When I created everything, when I did all of these things, where were you? God never gives Job really an answer for why these things happened to him. Never makes Job understand that life really is fair. You just don’t understand it. And we wrestle with that answer. Not only was Job’s circumstances not fair, the answer wasn’t fair. At least tell him why this happened. But I think there’s two lessons in God’s brusque answer to Job. And we must accept both of those answers. Number one is God is telling Job, I’m God and you’re not.

That because I’m God and you’re not, I know what I’m doing.

And you do not. And maybe you cannot. As the prophet would tell us later, his ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts. He can do what he wants to do, surely. He doesn’t have to be bound by my standards of fairness. But if I believe in him, I also know that he’s doing the right thing. Even though I don’t see it and understand it. And I think that’s where Job gets in the end. Look over in chapter 42 in the book of Job. Verse 1. Job answered the Lord and said, I know that you can do everything. And that no purpose of yours can be withheld from you. You ask, who is this who hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I uttered what I did not understand.

Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. I hope your parents live long enough. And you’re smart enough that you can have a similar conversation with your parents.

Conclusion

I couldn’t go there, and you made me do this and made me read that and eat that. But I uttered words without understanding. And may we live long enough and have the wisdom to utter those words to God. God, that’s not fair. By my standard of fairness. But you know what, God? I don’t understand. But you do. May God allow us the patience and the time to understand. And even when we don’t understand, to trust. To trust in the God to whom we pray. Will you put your trust in Him, your absolute trust in Him, so much so that you’re laying your whole life, your soul, and your eternal destination in His powerful, merciful hand. And we help you as you take that step of faith this morning.

Prayers have been offered on your behalf that you might come to Him in obedience to the gospel. And we help you with that this morning as together we stand and as we sing.