Earnest Prayers

Acts 12:5 So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

When Herod wanted to please the Jews even more after killing James, he proceeded to arrest Peter and kept him safely for killing after Passover. At this time, the Church had prayed earnestly for him and God had delivered him out miraculously. This is an example to us when we are in trouble. We can understand that it was more than a day when the whole Church had remained in a place and kept praying for Peter. The first thing to see that the victim Peter was sleeping while the Church was praying. This is a very good example of the importance of praying for others and not being self centered.

Selfish prayers are like Jacob’s wrestle (Genesis 32:22-32) with the Lord in which he had won God’s blessings but fell down at Esau’s feet. If we pray with the understanding that we were created to rule as per Gen 1:26, we would pray like people with responsibilities. There are selfish requests in the Lord’s prayer when we ask for food, forgiveness and salvation. But all the requests are made for “us” as a group which means that we should ask God to provide for everybody or at-least the members of our church or our neighbors. This is the reason we read in James 5:14, the Church had set a method for praying for sick people. If a person in the church had become sick, it does not mean that this person did not pray, but the church and its elders had not prayed sufficiently.

We read in James 5:16 that earnest prayers have power. Earnest prayers should be made only by righteous people. We read that in 2 Chronicles 7:14. If we have sin or vengeance against somebody, the Bible says that God will not hear our prayers. We read this in Psalms 34:15 also. This is why some people first ask for forgiveness before they pray every time. If we seek Him without a complete resolution, it is like praying to nobody. In exodus 32:9-14 we read the tone which Moses spoke to God. We read in the end that God had changed His mind because of Moses’s prayers. This prayer did not have humility or begging but God listening and changing His plans on a person because Moses was righteous. Let us remember that because Moses spoke like this, God was not upset at all as he regarded him with value.

In Colossians 4:2, we read how we have to be watchful in prayer. This means that we can sleep or provoke God’s anger while praying. Paul gives these instructions after mentioning that there in a Master in heaven. Moses did not pray like he was ordering God but God was still a master to him. Moses prayed like a responsible leader. If we are not watchful, we will end up tasting the Lord’s wrath.

When we pray for ourselves, the bible teaches us in Phil 4:6 that prayer and supplication should be made with thanksgiving. The verse teaches us that prayer and supplications are different things. Prayer will be more aligned to our Lord’s prayer where we commune with His will by submitting ourselves and ask God to do His will in everything. If we are anxious, it means that we do not have faith. The verse wants us to pray with thanksgiving which means that we should remember how God has provided when we pray. Praying like a thankful person makes God happier and God will fill us with peace. The next verse does not teach us about stress reduction but about peace from God.

In Luke 17:19, Jesus ensures the one leper who had come back with thanks is being saved. The others received healing and this person received salvation. We should see that Jesus was terribly disappointed with the others who were Jews. One reason why the Jews did not come back is because they thought that it is God’s responsibility to heal and He is just doing His job.

The word earnest means to show complete conviction. Some translations use the word fervent which means passionate intensity. The perfect example to follow is our Holy Spirit (Romans 8:26) who intercedes for us with deep groaning. We do not know how to pray and God understands our weaknesses. So, the Holy Spirit comes forward and explains God how bad the situation is. This prayer has deep groaning because He carries all our burdens to Him. This is the example of fellowship if a brother is suffering, others should pray like the Holy Spirit who is inside and understands the situation completely.

Amen.