Constant and Earnest Prayer

Constant and Earnest Prayer

Acts 12:5 NKJV
Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.

Acts 12:5 American Standard Version
 Peter therefore was kept in the prison: but prayer was made earnestly of the church unto God for him.


   It was a really bad time for the church.  The first of the apostles to be martyred – James - had just been killed.  James was one of the closest companions of Jesus; often he and Peter and John were alone with Jesus.  Herod, yearning to win the approval of people, seized James and had him killed.  His plan worked, he saw his approval ratings going up in the opinion polls.  So he figured they would go up even more if he killed another of these controversial rabble-rousers.  He sent his men to arrest Peter and they held him overnight in prison.  Herod ordered Peter guarded well and trusted in his prison and his guards.
   But Jesus had promised that Peter would grow old before he died.  We read this in the last chapter of John’s Gospel when Jesus told Peter that when he was old, he would be carried where he did not wish.
   While Herod rested in his bed and Peter slept on a hard floor between his guards, the church stayed up and prayed for him.  The Greek word used here is ektenēs.  According to Thayer's Greek Lexicon, the word ektenēs means:
1) stretched out, and 2) metaphorically intent, earnestly, assiduously.

Literally, the word pictures someone stretching out all they can to reach or take hold of something and keeping at it until you get it.  The other day I needed to get an item off a high storage shelf.  I’m 6 foot tall and can reach pretty high but this was just out of my reach.  I had to stretch and it was still out of reach.  I stood as straight as I could and then extended my feet until I was up on my tip-toes.  I angled my shoulder and extended my hand and fingers as far as possible and I was just able to grab the item and draw it to myself.  The word used here gives that kind of picture, stretching out earnestly to reach something.  This idea is what lies behind the English word used here, “constant.”
   A word from this root is used to describe the prayer Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane in
Luke 22:44.
And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

   Here, Jesus prayed so earnestly He shed sweat drops of blood.
   Frankly, most of my prayers are not exactly earnest.  And the truth is that prayers that are "earnestless" often are powerless.  I am not alone in this problem, there is little "stretching out" in our prayers.  Sometimes we pray with the attitude, "God can You do something about this?”  (Do we really ask God if He CAN do something?)  That kind of prayer doesn't have much power.  There is no earnestness in that kind of prayer.  Earnest prayer has power, not because it persuades a reluctant God to action, but because it demonstrates that our heart cares passionately about the things God cares about.  Remember and believe in the promise Jesus made in John 15:7.
"If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you."
   Back to Peter sleeping between his guards in a locked, high-security prison.  How earnest were the prayers prayed by the church that night?  We read in the rest of Acts 12 that they gathered together for prayer at a time when most everyone else was asleep.  When we are so serious about seeing God’s will done that we are willing to give up some of the normal comforts of life, it shows we are becoming more earnest.  Now we are putting our heart into line with His heart.  We learn God’s will and priorities from His Word, the Bible.  But it isn’t enough for us to just know them - we must have an "earnest" desire to see His will done, and that "earnest" desire will show itself in earnest prayer.
   In Acts 12:5 we see that the church trusted in the God who answers prayer.  It really wasn’t a fair fight.  Herod had his soldiers and his prisons and swords and shields.  Peter had the power of God's promise and a church that was in prayer.  Acts 12 goes on to tell us how God miraculously freed Peter from prison and how Peter was able to drop in on the prayer meeting held on his behalf.  We can learn much from such a glorious answer to prayer.  The church saw a great answer to prayer when they stretched themselves and prayed earnestly.

Stephen Cram                            December 2, 2012                      Colossians 2:8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8