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The Power of Surrendered Prayer
Big Idea: Prayer is not just your lifeline; it is your declaration that God Is Bigger than what’s holding you back.
Sermon Synopsis:In this sermon, Pastor Ken emphasizes the transformative power of prayer when it stems from surrender and trust in God. Using Acts 12 as the foundation, the message highlights the early church’s response to impossible situations through fervent prayer. Pastor Ken shares relatable analogies, illustrating how surrendering control and trusting God brings peace and allows Him to work in miraculous ways. The sermon concludes by encouraging continuous, earnest prayer that aligns our hearts with God’s will, reminding us that God is bigger than any situation we face.
Main Passage:
Acts 12:1–17
Additional Bible Verses Referenced:
Matthew 6:10
1 Peter 5:7
Small Group Questions:
START TALKING
Share a time when you felt overwhelmed or "stuck." How did you try to handle it?
The early church prayed together in a home, not a temple. How does this expand your view of what “church” can be?
START THINKING
Surrender: Read Acts 12:5 and 1 Peter 5:7. Why is surrendering control to God essential in prayer? How does letting go of control create space for peace and God’s power?
Trust: Acts 12:6 tells us Peter was asleep the night before his trial. What does his ability to rest reveal about trusting God in the middle of impossible circumstances?
Continual Prayer: The church didn’t just pray once—they prayed earnestly and persistently (Acts 12:12). Why is continual prayer important when we’re asking God to intervene? How does it shape our faith?
START SHARING
Have you ever experienced the power of others praying for you? How did it impact your faith and situation?
Is there an area in your life where you’re struggling to surrender or trust God? How can the group pray for you in this?
How can this group better reflect the early church by praying earnestly and supporting one another outside of Sundays?
START PRAYING
Spend time praying together as a group:
Surrender: Pray for specific areas where group members feel “stuck” and need to release control to God.
Trust: Ask God for peace and confidence in His sovereignty, even in difficult or uncertain situations.
Continual Prayer: Commit as a group to pray for one another throughout the week. Share specific requests and follow up to encourage each other.
START DOING
This week, take one of these action steps to live out surrendered, trusting, and continual prayer:
Identify one situation you need to surrender to God. Write a prayer releasing it to Him and reflect on how He’s working in it.
Host or join a prayer gathering outside of Sunday—whether in your home, at a park, or virtually. Make it a time to focus on earnest, specific prayer.
Set a reminder to pray daily for someone in the group or your community. Check in with them during the week to encourage them.
OPTIONAL: DIG DEEPER
Study "Ektenes" (earnestly): Research the Greek meaning and where it appears in Scripture (e.g., Luke 22:44, James 5:16). Reflect on how fervent prayer reflects a surrendered and trusting heart.
Explore prayer in Acts: Read Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:23-31 to see how the early church lived out continual, community prayer.
Practice intercessory prayer: Spend focused time this week lifting up someone’s situation to God, trusting Him to work powerfully.
Transcript:
The title of today's message is called The Power of Surrendered Prayer.
And so the big idea today is this: prayer is not just your lifeline; it’s your declaration that God Is Bigger. He is bigger than what’s holding you back. I have that on here. Let’s see that right one more time. It should be—there it is.
Prayer is not just your lifeline; it is your declaration that God Is Bigger than what’s holding you back.
Go ahead and tell a neighbor right now—just tell them, "God Is Bigger." God Is Bigger. Declare that right now. Say, "God Is Bigger." That’s good, that’s good.
Let’s pray right now. Lord Heavenly Father, God, we pray that you move through these scriptures right now. God, we’re grateful for your word, grateful that it speaks to every situation, every burden.
God, things that people may be dealing with, allow us to declare in prayer—in every situation—that you are bigger, God.
And so we pray that we’re able to turn to you, turn to your word.
Lord God, allow it to just really penetrate to our hearts that you are bigger than the circumstance and situations that we’re going through, God. That you are bigger.
And so, Lord God, just allow our hearts to be softened and ears to be open to your word, God. Excited to learn more about you, excited to just really see how big you are, Lord God.
We are listening. Speak through your word.
In Jesus’ name, everybody says…Amen.
You guys watch football this past weekend? Anybody here?
Anybody here just surprised about what the Washington Commanders did yesterday? Anybody here upset about the Lions just losing?
Yeah, yeah, that is terrible. Terrible Lions thinking, "Hey, we're going to go to the Super Bowl."
I always think that with the Cardinals every year, and it never works out. Just disappointing. Disappointing.
I don’t know if you knew this, but I coach football. Both my sons are in football, Eddie and Carter.
Eddie, who is an incredible natural at football—same with Carter. They're both big for their size. Eddie has—I call him like DeAndre Hopkins’ hands—just meaty hands. He’s currently in second grade. I mean, they’re huge.
Excuse me—he’s in third grade right now.
His first game, his first season in football, they actually went to the championship game and they lost.
He had a great coach and everything.
The next season, the next season—hold on, that wasn’t a joke, that was serious—the next season, we’re like, okay, that coach had to move on to the next grade.
Next season, they went and lost every single game. Every single game.
And I thought, "You got to be kidding me. I can do better than you. I could do better than you."
And so that’s when I started coaching, right?
And I will tell you, you’re looking at a 14-and-3 coach right now, okay? That’s good. Yes, it’s all about me. Yes, hand—yes, round of applause.
It’s like Madden football. I’m playing out there with them.
This past season and the new season just started right now, I’m coaching my—I just coached Eddie, now I’m coaching Carter. Just some personal stuff, some Facebook updates since TikTok has now closed down.
We actually made it to the championship game. We made it to the championship game this past season where I’m coaching.
And we were ready. I mean, we extended practices. I mean, we put these great trick plays and everything.
It was reminding me of really the Lions game yesterday. And it just seemed like everything that we were doing—that first drive—I mean, we couldn’t even move that football even one inch.
I mean, these third graders on defense were grabbing these flags so quickly. They were so trained.
I mean, it was just crazy. I’m like—they’re outsmarting our team. How are they doing this?
And all of a sudden, when we went four-and-out—or three-and-out—we gave the ball over.
And instantly, in that first drive, they scored a touchdown—six points—just two minutes into the game.
My son looked at me—he’s a quarterback as well—he says, "Why are they always the champions?"
I’m like, "What are you talking about? It’s just six points into the game. Like, we can’t—we can’t do this."
And then, in that drive, we couldn’t move the ball again.
He goes, "I don’t want to play QB anymore." The title of today's message is called The Power of Surrendered Prayer.
And so the big idea today is this: prayer is not just your lifeline, it's your declaration that God Is Bigger. He is bigger than what's holding you back.
I have that on here. Let's say that, see that right one more time. It should be—there it is. Prayer is not just your lifeline; it is your declaration that God Is Bigger than what's holding you back.
Go ahead and tell a neighbor right now, just tell them, "God Is Bigger." God Is Bigger. Declare that right now. Say, "God Is Bigger."
That's good. That's good.
Let's pray right now.
Lord Heavenly Father, God, we pray that you move through these scriptures right now. God, grateful for your word, grateful that it speaks to every situation, every burden—things that people may be dealing with. But allow us to declare in prayer, in every situation, that you are bigger, God.
And so we pray that we're able to turn to you, turn to your word, Lord.
Lord God, allow it to just really penetrate to our hearts that you are bigger than the circumstances and situations that we're going through, God. That you are bigger.
And so, Lord God, just allow our hearts to be softened and our ears to be open to your word.
God, excited to learn more about you, excited to just really see how big you are.
Lord God, we are listening. Speak through your word.
In Jesus' name, everybody says, Amen.
You guys watch football this past weekend? Anybody here?
Anybody here just surprised about what the Washington Commanders did yesterday?
Anybody here upset about the Lions just losing? Yeah, yeah, that is terrible.
Terrible Lions, thinking, "Hey, we're going to go to the Super Bowl." I always think that with the Cardinals every year, and it never works out.
Just disappointing. Disappointing.
I don't know if you knew this, but I coach football. Both my sons are in football—Eddie and Carter.
And Eddie, who is an incredible natural at football—same with Carter—they're both big for their size. Eddie has, like, I call them like DeAndre Hopkins hands. Just meaty hands. He's currently in second grade—I mean, they're huge.
Excuse me, he's in third grade right now. His first game, first season in football, they actually went to the championship game, and they lost.
And it was a great coach and everything.
The next season, the next season—hold on, that wasn't a joke, that was serious—the next season, we're like, okay, that coach had to move on to the next grade.
And I thought, you got to be kidding me. I can do better than you. I could do better than you.
And so that's when I started coaching.
And I will tell you, you're looking at a 14–3 coach right now. Okay, that's good. Yes, it's all about me. Yes, hand, yes, round of applause.
It's like Madden football; I'm playing out there with them.
This past season, the new season just started. Right now, I just coached Eddie. Now I'm coaching Carter—just some personal stuff, some Facebook updates since TikTok has now closed down.
We actually made it to the championship game this past season where I'm coaching, and we were ready.
I mean, we extended practices. I mean, we put these great trick plays and everything.
It was reminding me of really the Lions game yesterday.
And it just seemed like everything that we were doing, that first drive—I mean, we couldn't even move that football even one inch.
I mean, these third graders on defense were grabbing these flags so quickly.
They were so trained. I mean, it was just crazy.
I'm like, they're outsmarting our team. How are they doing this?
And all of a sudden, when we went four-and-out, or three-and-out, we gave the ball over.
And instantly, in that first drive, they scored a touchdown—six points just two minutes into the game.
My son looked at me—he's a quarterback as well—he says, "Why are they always the champions?"
I’m like, "What are you talking about? It's just six points into the game."
He's like, "We can't, we can't do this."
And then, in that drive, we couldn't move the ball again. He goes, "I don't want to play QB anymore."
By the end of the game, this attitude just seeped through. I mean, just went through every single child there.
I mean, they were quitting. By the time it was halftime, they mercy-ruled us.
35–0. 35–0.
And these third graders, we all just in tears. I mean, I felt bad. I literally felt like I told them that Santa was not real.
That's like how, like literally, I felt that inside of me.
For two days, I was literally up telling my wife, "Okay, like what should we have done? Like, I'm looking at game film, I'm looking at game film like, man, I wish we did that and this and everything."
Like it just burdened me. But that question in my head that Eddie told me: "Why are they always the champions?"
Was something that was on my heart.
Because it was hard for him to get over the fact that it was so easy for them, but it was so hard for him.
And I feel like though there are times and moments in impossible situations where we're looking at the scoreboard and we're like, "There is no way we can catch up. There's no way that we can actually get over this situation, this circumstance."
And I don't know what it may be, whether it's a health scare or the doctor's report just came back. The blood test came back and it says, "Hey, you need to do something," and it seems like it is an impossible situation.
I don't know if it may be even your relationships that you have with a family member or a son or daughter or maybe even in your marriage where it seems like there's—it just seems impossible for God to handle, impossible for you to handle.
Impossible situations.
But again, I just want to remind you that God Is Bigger.
And I just want to share with you this passage here, which is an impossible situation.
And again, we're going to be in Acts 12. I just want to break it down for you in this moment.
And so let's just kind of break this down. If you feel like you're in an impossible situation or you may feel like life seems like an impossible situation, I just want to read this again, and we're going to break this down.
It says this:
"It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them."
So King Herod was trying to gain power back from everyone.
And what happened was, he had James, the brother of John, put to death with a sword. And he saw this met with approval among the Jews. He proceeded to seize Peter also.
This is interesting that this happened because—oh man, there's actually—I just want to share this thing. This isn't in my notes, and I know I'm like, I've been trying to go down on time and everything, but man, this was so interesting.
Because in Acts 5, Peter was actually—this is his second time he was arrested. And when he was arrested and he left jail, the very first thing that he did was he went back to the temple courts and started preaching the name of God again.
And I love that. He's like, dude, I—like the angels freed him, and now all of a sudden, he went back to his calling.
He went back to his calling.
So why is that context important here?
Because in Acts 12, King Herod was like, "Okay, we got James. Now I'm going to get Peter, and this time Peter's not going to escape. There's no way. There's no way."
He says, "God helped him through this. No, no, no, no, no. This is going to happen. It's not going to happen again. My name, my reputation," what King Herod is saying is, "I know I'm the conqueror. I know what to do."
And so the impossible situation was verse four:
"Arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover."
So what's happening is, James here was killed, and he was beheaded. That's what it means when we said this in verse two. It says he was put to death with a sword. That's just a way that they say, "Hey, he was beheaded."
And so all of a sudden, everybody's like, "Hey, good job. Hey, good job."
So King Herod, in the court of public opinion, is trying to get everybody to say, "All right, if you like that I killed one of the apostles, I'm going to kill another one—Peter."
An impossible situation.
And so Peter was guarded 24/7 by four squads—16 soldiers locked between two people, two soldiers inside, probably two sentries on the outside, and there was a rotating shift about every six hours.
But what I love was how the church responded.
The church responded with this. This is in verse five:
"But the church, in this impossible situation, was earnestly praying to God for him."
Was earnestly praying.
And I just want to remind you of this. Right? When it comes to prayer in impossible situations, if we're going to put Jesus at the center, we have to always be earnestly praying.
Always be earnestly praying.
And here's—this is important because earnestly means this. And I love this. If you were to go back to the Greek, earnestly means this: earnestly is this Greek word that’s eusebes, and what it means is this—it means fervent, persistent, and stretched out.
And this is an important word in desperation and impossible situations.
So fervently, I'm going to be stretched out.
I'm going to be stretched out.
I know what we try to encourage in your time of worship here, right? We try to encourage you to be in worship when we're worshiping in song.
Not to be like this (folds arms) but to be like this (stretches arms).
To be in surrender, trying to say, "Stretched out, God, I have nothing else, but I just want to surrender everything to you. It's an impossible situation. I'm going to surrender."
This is a position of surrender. Stretched out.
So here's the first point I want to remind you of: prayer begins with surrender.
Prayer begins with surrender.
So sometimes in prayer, we give it all to God.
We say, "Jesus, Take the Wheel," but we're the backseat drivers.
In prayer, we approach God with our concerns, and yet we still want to hold on to the wheel.
We still want to hold on to control.
But this is why it's important when we approach God that we surrender everything to God.
And even though in prayer it is really a heart posture—when we're surrendering, we say, and we pray, "Hey God, I want to surrender everything to you," but deep down we're still kind of strategizing.
We want to micromanage God.
Deep down inside we say, "Hey God, I know your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. But can you consider my will as well? I feel like I know the situation a little better than you, God. I'm living in this situation. You're in Heaven, right? Come on, let me give you some insight of what's happening."
But here's the thing: the more and more if we don't understand this position, if we say, "I want control instead of surrender," when we try to control the situation, when we try to control the problems, when we try to control what other people think, control how other people feel, control everything—"Me, I'm going to control it!"—isn't that where anxiety and stress comes in?
When we care so much, trying to control everything instead of surrendering, then all of a sudden it actually drags us into a deeper depression than ever before.
See, peace doesn’t come from perfect prayer, but it comes from a posture of surrender.
It's surrender.
It's a posture of surrender.
If you feel weighed down, overwhelmed, like the walls are closing in, you have to remember this position of surrender.
Because you're trying to carry something that you're not designed to hold in the first place.
You're trying to carry it all.
You're trying to carry the weight of consequences of sin. Carry the weight of anxiety. Carry the weight—and no wonder why your back hurts. You're trying to carry it all the time.
In fact, in 1 Peter, it actually says this.
1 Peter 5:7: "Cast your anxiety on him because he cares for you."
It says, "Cast."
It means throw.
Now I know a lot of—if you're a fisherman, you're like, "Well, yeah, but then you bring it back, right? I'm going to cast, and I'm going to bring my anxiety back to me."
No, no, that's not what it is.
It means throw.
Throw your anxiety out to God. It says, "Throw your anxiety on him. Just throw it. Surrender it."
Because he cares for you.
Just throw it. That's all you have to do.
Just throw it. Surrender it.
Surrender it.
Go ahead and tell someone, "Just throw it. Just throw it away."
Just say, "Throw it away."
Just throw it away.
Just throw it away. It's not for you.
It's not for you to hold.
Just throw it away.
It's too heavy for you. It's too heavy for you.
But it's nothing for him.
That's what the cross does. That's what Jesus does.
Because he cares for you. So when we surrender, we understand that God Is Bigger.
We understand that the God who holds the universe together can handle the little things that seem big to us.
But the little things—He can handle it.
It means in your finances, He can handle that.
The God who raises the dead—He can handle your broken marriage.
The God who parted the Red Sea where it seems like there’s no way—He will make a way.
That’s what God does when you surrender everything.
That’s what God does.
And I hope that we understand that same God, time and time again—that the same miracles that He’s done in the past that we celebrate, that we worship, that we’re like, “Oh my goodness”—that same God is the same God that is here holding everything together for you.
So, of course, He can handle the one more thing.
Because God Is Bigger.
So we say, “Hey, prayer begins with surrender.”
It begins with surrender. That’s what the Church did.
They were praying earnestly for this situation.
So if we continue on in Scripture, it says this:
“The night before Herod was about to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains.”
And suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell.
I just want to pause there for a second.
Peter was doing what? He was sleeping.
Now imagine the time that this is happening.
He saw his friend James already be executed.
And he’s about to be—the night before Herod, about the trial, about this execution date—Peter was sleeping.
Man, I lost sleep because we lost that football game!
Like, it’s a third-grade football game, and I lost sleep.
Peter was sleeping when he was about to lose his life.
Because Peter had something that I think we all need to have, which is trust in God.
Peter had trust.
You see, prayer requires trust.
It’s not about just bringing our request to God and saying, “Alright, magic genie, just do what you will, and then I’m done.”
No, it requires trust.
It’s about leaving our prayers with Him—that God is going to do what He’s going to do.
Peter wasn’t losing sleep about what he could not control.
He trusted the One that was in control the whole time.
See, again, we have to surrender. And in surrender, what we’re saying is, “We’re going to trust you. Your will be done. Your will. No matter what, I’m going to trust you.”
Because that’s what prayer does. Prayer anchors us to God’s promises.
See, prayer is actually less about changing God’s heart.
It’s more about changing our hearts.
Prayer is less about, “Alright God, hey, I’m going to give you a prayer request, okay? And I’m just going to keep bothering you to change you.”
Alright, I don’t think God needs changing.
It’s us that need changing.
And the change oftentimes is this: it’s that we need to change our hearts to trust Him more, so that no matter the situation we’re in, we could be sleeping through it and having rest through it.
What are you still holding on to?
Are you holding on to control?
Do you feel like you want to just hold on to that anxiety because you just feel like you have the future in hand?
You can’t hold on to it.
You have to let go.
You have to trust God.
You have to let God.
You have to trust that the same peace that Peter had is also available to you.
You see, when he trusted God, here’s what’s crazy to me.
When he trusted God, Acts 12:7 says this:
“Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side to wake him up. He said, ‘Quick, get up!’ And the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.”
I don’t think this was an impromptu God working in this moment.
That means when Peter was sleeping, God was working.
That means when Peter was sleeping, God was working.
Before Peter was even in the situation, God already had bigger plans.
And so much so, that Peter was trusting in God.
The angel had to, like, push him—just like punch him in the side a little bit—to wake him up. He’s like, “Hey, you’re too at peace right now. Come on, man, you’re too at peace.”
See, God does some of His best work while you’re just resting.
While you’re trusting.
While you’re not trying to hold everything in control.
While you’re not trying to put together the best business plan.
While you’re not trying to convince Him to do what your will is.
You’re just going to trust Him that He’s going to take care of everything.
You’re going to trust, no matter what.
See, your miracles, your breakthroughs, the answers to your prayers don’t depend on you and your efforts.
It doesn’t.
It depends on the God who’s already working behind the scenes.
Who’s already working while you’re sleeping.
Who’s already working in all of this.
I just—I saw our friend Chad here. Chad, I know a couple of months ago we were praying for him, right?
And we were praying for him because he was dealing with a cancer diagnosis.
And now—cancer free!
And we celebrate that.
We’re praying. We’re continually praying that it doesn’t come back.
We’re praying for all that.
And so many people have these celebrations in these stories.
But there’s something that Chad was an ultimate testimony to: really his trust in God.
That through it all, he says, “Hey, your will be done, not mine. I’m going to trust you no matter what. You have greater plans.”
And even when he was going through treatment and everything, he still wanted to volunteer with students.
I don’t know why he was doing that. He would show up at church.
I’m like, “Chad, why are you still here?”
And he’s just here. It’s just amazing.
And he just said, “Man, my strength is in God.”
He just trusted God the entire time.
Because it doesn’t depend on you.
Answers to prayers don’t depend on us.
It depends on God.
God Is Bigger.
I just want to say one more thing.
As you’re praying to God, we have to fully trust in Him—not halfway, right?
When we give up the wheel and say, “Alright, Jesus, Take the Wheel,” it’s not just one hand.
It’s both hands.
Right? It’s both hands.
Trusting God just halfway is still trusting yourself too much.
That’s why it’s surrender in trust. Saying, “Jesus, hey, you’re going to take control of my life. Hey, this is an impossible situation. I’m just going to pray. I’m going to trust. I’m going to allow you to bring me peace. I’m just going to surrender it all. You’re going to take care of it.”
That’s the type of prayers that we have to pray.
That’s the type of attitude that we need to have if we want Jesus in the center.
And remember, resting in God’s peace doesn’t mean that God isn’t working.
God is still working.
It’s just a reminder for us to align our hearts with His and His timing.
Here’s what happened.
I love this. Let’s continue in verse 8:
“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. 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.”
Peter thought he was dreaming!
“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.”
Verse 11:
“Then Peter came to himself and said, ‘Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.’”
What does this mean for us?
Prayer brings freedom through continuous surrender.
Continuous surrender.
Because Peter, in this moment, yes, he was praying. Yes, these things were happening.
But guess what the church was still doing?
They were still praying.
They didn’t know what was happening at that exact moment, but they didn’t stop praying.
Freedom through prayer isn’t just a one-and-done type of thing.
They were praying fervently, surrendering everything, saying, “God, take the wheel. God, just do this. This is an impossible situation.”
Because freedom happens through continuous surrender—all the time.
It is keeping Jesus at the center no matter what.
That’s what it means.
You’re going to surrender everything to Him.
You’re going to trust Him.
And then He’s going to bring you peace.
He’s going to bring you peace.
And I love what happened.
Actually, let me go back to my notes here.
The reason I say I want you to be continuously praying is because I hope that we’re a church that doesn’t just pray once and then we’re done.
That we have a heart posture, that we’re not putting Jesus first on a list, but He’s the center of everything.
That when there’s something that seems impossible, we’re going to pray.
And then we’re going to pray again.
And then we’re going to pray again.
And then we’re going to pray again.
Because the person that doesn’t want you to keep praying all the time is the enemy.
The enemy doesn’t want you to keep praying.
He knows the power of continuous prayer.
He knows the power of what can happen when you suddenly wake up and realize, “Oh my goodness, God is in control no matter what.”
The enemy knows the power of continuous prayer.
He knows the power of the peace that Jesus can give you.
He wants you to believe, “It’s not going to work.”
That’s what Satan wants you to think.
He wants you to believe, “Just give up on God.”
He wants you to doubt all the time.
That it’s not worth the effort.
That the situation is too far gone.
But let me tell you—if this happened with Peter, between two soldiers, a group of 16 people guarding him, chained up, about to be executed—if the chains can fall off for him, why can’t the chains fall off for you?
Impossible situations turn possible.
Because you may feel like you’re shackled, but just know that God holds the key—not you.
It’s God. Let’s continue in verse 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.”
I love this part because the church wasn’t in the temple. The church wasn’t even at Peter’s house. The church was at Mark’s mom’s house.
The church was happening outside of church.
The church was happening where two or three or more people were gathered together.
That’s what we’re called to do: to do life together.
That’s why we encourage small groups. Not just to study the Bible, but to say, “You tell me what I can pray for. You’ve got a broken marriage? We need to pray for that fervently, out of desperation.”
The church was together, praying fervently.
Now, here’s what happened next, and it’s one of my favorite parts of the story.
Verse 13:
“Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, ‘Peter is at the door!’”
Imagine this scene: Peter’s been miraculously freed. He’s standing at the door, knocking, and Rhoda is so excited that she doesn’t even let him in.
Peter is just standing there, like, “Seriously? Let me in!”
Meanwhile, inside the house, Rhoda is shouting, “Peter’s here! Peter’s here!”
And what was their response?
Verse 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.”
The church had been praying earnestly for Peter, but when the answer to their prayer literally showed up at their door, they doubted.
They couldn’t believe it.
And isn’t that so much like us?
We pray for a miracle, and when it happens, we’re surprised.
But here’s the truth: when we surrender everything to God, when we trust Him fully, He works in ways that astonish us.
Verse 16:
“But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.”
They were astonished.
Because what seemed impossible to them was possible for God.
Closing Thoughts:
God Is Bigger.
He’s bigger than your impossible situation.
He’s bigger than your doubts, your fears, your struggles, and your pain.
And He invites us to surrender everything to Him, to trust Him fully, and to pray without ceasing.
Let’s be a church that prays fervently.
Let’s be people who declare, through our prayers, that God Is Bigger.
Let’s pray together:
Lord Heavenly Father, God, we lift you up. We thank you for the power of prayer, for the peace that comes when we surrender everything to you.
We pray for those who are in impossible situations right now, Lord. Break their chains. Free them from their burdens.
God, we trust you. We surrender to you. We declare today that you are bigger than anything we face.
Thank you for being a God who listens, who cares, and who works miracles.
In Jesus’ mighty name, we pray.
Amen.
*This transcript has been prepared to enhance readability and accessibility. While efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, some errors or discrepancies may remain. For the most precise representation, please refer to the original video.
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