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Week 9: Reply Received

 

Acts 12:5 - So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. [6] The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. [7] Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists. [8] Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him. [9] Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. [10] They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. [11] Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating."

I still remember the first time I ever heard from one of our viewers. It was five years after we producing our first episode for the public access station we started on. It was a lady who had stumbled across the show while channel surfing. She had two daughters who love music and wanted to thank us for playing the videos we run. I was totally amazed to hear from her. We had struggled all those years, knowing that this is what God wanted us to do but not knowing if anyone was actually watching, or if we were actually making a difference. When all you see is the lens of a camera, it can be easy to forget that there are real people out there on the other side of the TV set. Of course, it was another two years before we heard from another viewer.

Acts 12:12 - When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. [13] Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. [14] When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!" [15] "You're out of your mind," they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, "It must be his angel." [16] But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. [17] Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. "Tell James and the brothers about this," he said, and then he left for another place.

Have you ever prayed really hard for something and then been surprised when God answered it? You'd think that the ones who Jesus spent spent the last few years of his earthly life investing in wouldn't be surprised that He hears their prayers. Nevertheless, there you have one person too excited to even open the door and accept God's gift, and the rest of the bunch not believing their ears. This is not to say that they didn't have faith that God could answer their prayers. Any Christian who is completely honest with themselves will admit, our lives are a mix of faith and doubt. A man in the Bible who sought healing for his son said it best when he said "Lord I believe, help my unbelief". (Mark 9:24) He was basically saying "Lord, I know you can do this, but in my limited human understanding, I can't see how. I need Your help to overcome that."

We hear from our viewers a lot more often today. Whether it's an email, the message board, out at a concert, or even just entering one of our contests, it still never ceases to amaze me that people are out there watching. It's not the surprise that it used to be, but rather an awe and appreciation for that contact with people out there. I hope I never lose that feeling. We need to be that way with God as well... not surprised that He cares enough to answer our prayers, but a sense of awe at just how much He cares.

Assignment:

Think back this week over all the prayers God has answered for you over the years, whether they were "yes", "no" or "not yet". Thank Him for the privilege of being able to communicate with Him on such a personal level.