“5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.”
Acts 12:5, NIV

Would you pray for me? If I was put in prison, would you pray for me? If because of the gospel, Gerald Stillman was killed and I was thrown in prison, would you pray for me? If Buddy Spaulding was killed for the sake of the gospel and I was next in line, would you pray for me?

Would you get together with others to pray for me? If I were in prison awaiting execution, would you come to a meeting at someone’s home and pray for me?

When would you be willing to get together with other believers and pray together? Or have you never prayed openly, fervently for another believer? Have you, those of you who have professed faith in Jesus Christ, never prayed together with anyone in a group?

Our text today tells me that it was common in the early church for Christians not only to pray, but to pray together. “41 Those who accepted his message were baptised, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Acts 2:41, 42, NIV.
“23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.” Acts 4:23, 24, NIV.
“5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.” Acts 12:5, NIV.

It was the habit of the early church to pray and to pray together.

This circumstance called for special prayer. Herod, the grandson of the Herod who tried to kill Jesus shortly after he was born, was in a great place. He had gone to school with Caligula, who became a Roman emperor. After Caligula’s death, he received the right to rule over Judah and Jerusalem.
He was also revered by the Jews. He loved Jerusalem and lived there. He observed Jewish laws and traditions. Daily he offered sacrifices in the temple. History tells us that during the Feast of Tabernacles, the Jewish leaders had him read publicly a passage from the law, no doubt in accordance with Deuteronomy 17:19 which reads “19 It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees” Deuteronomy 17:19, NIV.
The Jews felt like Herod was one of their own. Herod arrested James and had him killed with the sword. This may have been in response to Deuteronomy 13:6-18 in which a person who lead a person astray to commit idolatry, they were to be stoned. If they led a city astray they were to be killed by the sword as well as everyone in the city. Herod spared the city, but James was killed by the sword.
This made the Jewish leaders happy. So Herod arrested Peter and put him in prison. This was not a punishment, but a detention center. After the Passover there would be a public trial.
Herod appointed four squads of four soldiers to watch Peter. Two soldiers stayed with Peter, one guard was further down the hall and one by the gate. He may have done this because the last time the apostles were arrested, they all escaped from prison.
In verse 5 we find two events happening together: Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

I ask you again, would you have been part of the group that was praying for Peter? Would you have come out to someone’s home to pray for Him?

Let me tell you what group prayer is. Group prayer is children going together to talk to their father. When we come together to pray, prayer is talking to God. As God’s children, adopted into His family, we go together to talk to our Father.

Let’s look at how this plays out. Peter is awakened from his sleep by an angel. He is bound by chains and between two guards. The angel leads him by the other two guards and they come out on the street. Peter says,” Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent the angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.” (vs. 11) In other words, Peter says, “The Lord brought me out of prison and saved me from death.”

Verse 12 says that Peter went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark. A servant named “Rhoda” met him. The people inside were praying for his release, but when she left Peter hanging at the door, she went inside. No one was praying in faith believing. Or if they were, their expectation of the answer was a lot different than Peter showing up at the door.
So why should we do this?
First, praying together develops unity in the Body. I am convinced that God wants us to walk together in unity. Scripture say “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!” Psalms 133:1, NIV. Parents love it when their children get along. When we pray together, we grow closer to one another.
Some are threatened by that. They do not want to be closer to other people. The reason for this is sin. Sin divides. God’s ultimate desire would be for every person to be warmly greeted by every other person. Sin is the reason this does not happen.
Don’t believe for one moment that God is blessed by our lack of cooperation and unity with other believers. The distance we put between ourselves and others is the result of sin. We may have learned it from our parents, been burnt by other sinful people when we have tried to get close, or we have conditioned ourselves to believe it’s ok not to work together. But sin separates us from God and it separates us from one another.

Second, praying together glorifies God. First, when we as his children come together in unity, God is blessed and lifted up. Our heavenly Father is blessed when we are together. He created us to love and when we come together to pray for other brothers and sisters, God sees the results of redemption in our lives. Second, the answers are not limited to one person, but a group can now praise God. As a side note, this also builds unity, when a group of people see God work.

Third, I believe that our prayers make a difference. Let me express it this way. God knows the whole future. He knows cause and effect just as a model train operator knows cause and effect. If a train operator switches tracks, he knows that when the train arrives, it will go left, rather than right. So God knows that we will pray and he also knows that he will answer because of our prayers. On a human level, we say, “If my friend gets me tickets to a Celtics playoff game, I will go.” The difference between us and God is that God knows that the request will be made and, based on his character, how he will answer it. We think, if God already knows our prayer, why pray? The reason is that God also already knows we are going to pray. If we don’t pray, God knows we won’t pray. And he has planned his response to that as well.

But more troubling than the question of why should we pray, is the question, “Why don’t we pray?” when you are with people who are sick, do you pray for them? When you visit a friend in the hospital or nursing home, do your pray for them? When Christians get together to pray, such as will be done around the flagpole at noon down at the town office, are you in? When Wednesday night comes and we gather to pray for the sick and dying, those needing salvation, those going through rough times, would you come? Would you pray?

I am sure Peter was pleased to know that his Christian family prayed. And so would we. Selah!