So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was praying fervently to God for him. (Acts 12:5)
We read verse 5 and immediately consider the early Christian Church to be in a spiritual class of their own. While some of the things the first century Church did was absolutely impressive (see Acts 4:32-35), accounts like Acts 12 show us how similar they actually are to us. Comparing verse 5 with verse 15, we see that although the believers were praying fervently, when God answered their prayers they didn’t believe it.
How can a person fervently pray, and then be in disbelief when their earnest request is answered? A statement by Paul Washer that’s circulated online, I think answers this question. Washer said, “There is no such thing as a great man [or woman] of God, only weak, pitiful, faithless men [and women] of a great and merciful God.” This means that ultimately prayer does not depend on us, but on God, and this is liberating! We’re just required to pray and ask God, even if we’re doubting and lacking faith (Matt. 6:9-13, 6:7-12). We can pray with power and fervency like the early Christians did.
One of the many lessons on prayer that we can learn from today’s passage is that God commands us to pray. So we pray and then leave it for him to decide. R.C. Sproul said “God always answers our prayers. Sometimes, however, the answer is no. We tend to insult God’s intelligence when He doesn’t answer our prayers the way we ask Him to by failing to consider the no as an answer.” We can bet that the believers prayed fervently for the Apostle James’ release before his execution, but as we know it, he ended up being beheaded. God decided not to answer the church’s request for James’ release. But here’s the remarkable thing. The Christians continued to obey God by praying again when it was Peter’s turn to be executed. This time, God said “Yes.”
We don’t know whether God will answer a “Yes” or a “No,” but regardless, we are to pray. Why? We pray because we trust in God’s sovereignty and wisdom and for him to do the right thing. So pray for everything and anything, and leave it to God to decide what is best.