At last night’s prayer meeting, we focussed on Acts 12:1-5 TNIV and in particular looked at the phrase ‘and the church was earnestly praying to God for him.’ It was a time of persecution for the church; James, the brother of John, had been killed by Herod and Herod was all set to do the same to Peter. The church prayed not in any half-hearted way, but earnestly – the word here (ektenes) is translated ‘without ceasing’ in some versions and is the root of our English word ‘extended’ or ‘extensive’, showing us that the church was fully stretched in praying. This was no light-hearted hobby, but a call placed upon them by God to which they responded with unstinting prayer.
Motorcycle champion Guy Martin has recently featured in a series of programmes called ‘Speed’ on Channel 4, looking at what is required to break several speed records. Olympic cyclist Laura Trott spoke of her gruelling training regime on this, how she pushes herself to the limit every day in training, to the point where she can do nothing after training except rest because she has pushed her body hard. We need to pray with the same fervour and dedication!