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"Out Of Your Mind" Sized Prayers
Jon Burgess13Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14When she recognized Peterʼs voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”15“Youʼre out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”16But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Acts 12:13-16
Verse 5 tells us that "the church was earnestly praying to God for him" while Peter was locked up in prison. This prayer was so big that there was no way it could happen outside of the intervention of God. So, when Peter shows up at the door, completely free from prison thanks to an angelic jail break no one can believe it. From Rohda the servant girl to the most mature saints in the room no one can believe it's Peter knocking at the door. In fact this was such a big prayer they prayed that it seemed more likely it was Peter's angel then Peter himself. Which begs the question, how often was the early church seeing angels and why would they be knocking on a door? I used to always take this response as a lack of faith on their part. They didn't believe it was Peter at the door. For the first time I realized this wasn't a lack of faith, it was a proof of faith! They prayed an "out of your mind" sized prayer and saw it come to pass!
If I am praying to the God of the Universe why do I pray so small? He holds the Heavens and the Earth in His hands and yet I pray as if I'm not quite sure if God can handle the request. How many times do I worry big and pray small? How many times do I pray based on what I can accomplish versus what God can do? If I want to see big things happen big prayers need to happen! I want to have my prayers interrupted by "out of your mind" answers knocking at my door.
I am surrounded by people imprisoned by sin, shame, addiction, depression, guilt and so much more! I want to see them set free! I want to see those chains fall off! I pray that the longer I am in ministry and surrounded by impossible situations my confidence in you would be reflected in the size of my prayers! Let me not give up, let me grow up in my prayers! Let me not give up, let me look up to the One who reigns and rules so much stronger in these impossbile situations! Let me pray beyond what I think and start praying the way You think!
