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Thursday... What he intended didn't happen but what they intended did happen and they were surprised.


Thursday... What he intended didn't happen but what they intended did happen and they were surprised.

In my reading in Acts 12 this morning two words in verses 4 & 5 (NLT) jumped out at me. Here is what the verses said, "Then he imprisoned him, placing him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring Peter out for public trial after the Passover. But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him." The first word is intended and the second is prayed.

Yes, things happen to us that are intended to imprison us, keep us in bondage and hurt us. The devil intends to harm us to get back at God. But, but is such an important word, but.

What do you do when bad is happening to you? Yes it is happening because someone intends to hurt you and bring you down. But when we have things happen to us a very good thing is to ask our church or maybe they hear that we were going through a bad time or we earnestly pray or have our family pray then the intention of others to harm us changes when we pray.

So do you pray during bad times or do you wallow in discouragement saying there is nothing I can do? Here is the key, if you have a relationship with God you can pray.

Now the story didn't end there. It seems that an angel came to Peter and he woke him up and said (vs. 7) "'Quick! Get up!' And the chains fell of his wrists. And he got dressed and followed the angel." He escaped.

Then verse 11 says, "Peter finally came to his senses. 'It's really true!' he said, 'The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and from what the Jewish leaders has planned to do to me!" Remember, "But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him."  

And then (vs. 12), "he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered for prayer." He knocked on the door and (vss. 13-15) "a servant girl named Rhoda came to open it. When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the door, she ran back inside and told everyone, 'Peter is standing at the door!' 'You're out of your mind!' they said."

Of course they finally opened the door and saw it was him but there first response after earnestly praying was, "You're out of your mind!" They prayed and when their prayer was answered they were surprised but God still answered because they prayed. 

Such a great story. Yes, when we earnestly pray something will happen and we will probably be surprised. So let's earnestly pray and leave the answer to God, Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

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