“Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword. When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread. When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people. So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God” (Acts 12:1–5).
Things were certainly not looking good for the Apostle Peter. While he had previously experienced trouble in Acts for preaching the gospel, this was something more ominous. James, his fellow apostle, had been put to death. Playing to the crowds, it appeared that Peter would be Herod’s next target. Thoughts of martyrdom had to be running through his mind as he lay chained between two soldiers and finally drifted off to sleep.
But God wasn’t done with Peter yet. An angel is sent to the prison and a miraculous jailbreak takes place. The event is so unexpected that Peter sleepily thinks he is seeing a vision. As he eventually makes his way to where other believers are having a prayer meeting on his behalf, even they have trouble believing God has answered their prayers in this way. But there he was, standing before them -- living proof that no situation was too difficult for God.
Things may not be looking too good for you right now. Perhaps you are in a difficult situation in life. I can’t promise you that God will miraculously step in and change things for you like He did for Peter. He might, but that’s up to God. But if you are His child, I can assure you that there is no set of circumstances that are beyond God’s ability to handle, one way or another. Trust Him for that.
God loves you!
Mike
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