Why pray? Do you ever wonder? One said, “I pray because I cannot not pray.” Have you ever asked God for something and not received it? In his book, God on Mute, Pete Greig addresses the silence of “unanswered prayer.” Do we expect something to happen when we pray? Our story today helps us with these questions.
In the book of Acts, Luke exalts Jesus as the true King of the Jews. King Herod Agrippa, who thought he was King of the Jews had James killed and then arrested Peter. Held by sixteen Roman soldiers, Peter might have wondered if he had a prayer. Thankfully, he did! God sent an angel to release him. An angel fetched Peter, but it was prayer that fetched the angel.
Peter showed up at the prayer meeting but he couldn’t get in! When he arrived, a servant named Rhoda met him at the door. In her excitement, she ran to tell the others, leaving Peter outside. What would you have done? Peter kept knocking at the door as they debated whether Peter had been released. They were still praying for what God had already accomplished. Eventually, they let him in. Later King Herod died after failing to give God glory when the crowd complimented his speech.
Just as the disciples kept knocking on God’s door in prayer, Peter continued to knock on the door. This is a picture of prayer. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught, “Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.” There is no perfect formula for prayer, but we must persist. “Pray without ceasing,” Paul told the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 5:17). When what we want coincides with what God wants, prayer changes things. Even when it doesn’t change the situation, prayer changes us. Keep knocking. Do not be surprised when God answers your prayer in his time, in his way. Our Father cannot not answer when his children pray. He will not remain silent forever.
