One thing is clear from Acts 12 and that is that God is a God who saves and rescues. The Bible is full of the stories of God’s deliverance, most notably the Exodus from Egypt. Here, we see the story of Peter’s deliverance from jail, a deliverance involving angelic intervention, chains falling from wrists, guards mysteriously asleep and doors unexpectedly opening. It’s a story full of humour (the idea that the church is praying earnestly but is so stunned by Peter’s arrival that they leave him outside for a while is ironic!) but one which demonstrates to us that God can do anything. Nothing is too hard for Him.

We need to be confident in God’s ability and desire to save us, to rescue us, to deliver us and we need to pray for people in that vein. This chapter reminds us that ‘the church was earnestly praying to God for him.’ (Acts 12:5) To be sure, they were as surprised as Peter when God actually did deliver him, but they were praying for him. We must not let what we perceive to be unanswered prayers stop us from continuing to pray for God to intervene in supernatural ways in situations for people. We need to understand that prayer is our greatest weapon and that ‘the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.’ (James 5:16) It’s good to keep praying the Lord’s Prayer at these times and especially to pray ‘deliver us from the evil one.’ (Matt 6:13) God is able to deliver us. He’s able to keep us and our loved ones safe. He’s able to intervene in ways we can’t even begin to imagine. Paul says God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. (Eph 3:20) Let’s keep praying for God’s miraculous intervention in our lives and into the situations which are currently gripping the world.