Know It 3

Acts 12:12-16

It is amazing how often people – myself included – will pray about a situation and then be absolutely amazed when God answers our prayer. What does that say about our faith? In today’s passage we see great faith coupled with poor belief.

Where did Peter go? Who was there? What were they doing?

What does Peter do when he arrives? How does Rhoda respond?

In verse 15 the gathered group of faithful followers offers two explanations to what is happening. What are they? What is the end result?

The first verse of this reading is an end to what has gone on before. Peter was in prison and an angel led him out of the prison – great faith. But Peter thought he was dreaming – poor belief. These faithful people are praying for Peter (see Acts 12:5) – great faith. But they don’t believe it when he is set free – poor belief. Instead they are more prone to believe that the young girl, Rhoda, is insane or that she has seen a ghost. Those two explanations are much more acceptable than that God actually set Peter free.

But aren’t we the same way most of the time. We offer to pray for someone but deep inside we have our doubts that God can actually do anything to help. And when we do receive an answer to our prayers we are dumb-founded. It is good and commendable to thank God and praise Him for what He has done, but we shouldn’t be so amazed that God was able to do something. It is part of our faith isn’t it?

We seem to have a faith where we believe, but we really don’t believe. We can talk a good game but when it comes to really trusting God we have trouble. If we are going to be faithful followers of Christ we need to believe, and really believe. We need to live with confidence and act with confidence and worship with confidence.

We teach all about Christianity, about prayer, about faith in God, but do we really believe what we are preaching? If we really believe it – and we should – then why don’t we act like we believe it?

DAILY CHALLENGE: What can you do to be more confident in your own faith?