Time To Sleep
So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. 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. (Acts 12:5-6)
While it’s true that the power of the church comes through prayer, that power starts with Peter being a praying individual. In Acts chapter 12, starting in verse 5, the story shifts from talking about King Herod to talking about Peter, an apostle and disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, who just a few chapters earlier delivered the first sermon of the Christian church on the Day of Pentecost.
After Peter’s arrest, we are told in verse 6 that he is in prison sound asleep. Here is a man whose dear friend, colleague, and brother had just been killed, and now he himself is on death row, knowing execution is imminent. And yet, in the face of all that stress, strain, and trauma, Peter is asleep. What an amazing resolve in a time of crisis!
Reading this blew my mind because most people who have less on the line than that struggle to keep things together when bills are high, when the marriage is on the rocks, or when family life is driving them crazy. Many people need Melatonin or Tylenol PM, but Peter is fast asleep.
Peter, who is relatively young in the faith at the time, proves to us that God is WITH you, God lives IN you, and if God be FOR you, who can be against you? He shows us that even when the mountains we face are high and all hell is breaking loose, that you can go to sleep at night.
Think about it. If it’s true that the Lord neither slumbers nor sleeps, what good is it for us to be up all night. I don’t care what’s happening! God’s people can still get some rest even in restless times.
So if you’re facing troubling times, if you’re having trouble putting your worries, your doubts, and your fears to bed, ask the Lord to grant you peace that is only available through Him. Pray that He would calm your spirit like He calmed Peter’s, and believe that you can sleep because the Lord never does.
While it’s true that the power of the church comes through prayer, that power starts with Peter being a praying individual. In Acts chapter 12, starting in verse 5, the story shifts from talking about King Herod to talking about Peter, an apostle and disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, who just a few chapters earlier delivered the first sermon of the Christian church on the Day of Pentecost.
After Peter’s arrest, we are told in verse 6 that he is in prison sound asleep. Here is a man whose dear friend, colleague, and brother had just been killed, and now he himself is on death row, knowing execution is imminent. And yet, in the face of all that stress, strain, and trauma, Peter is asleep. What an amazing resolve in a time of crisis!
Reading this blew my mind because most people who have less on the line than that struggle to keep things together when bills are high, when the marriage is on the rocks, or when family life is driving them crazy. Many people need Melatonin or Tylenol PM, but Peter is fast asleep.
Peter, who is relatively young in the faith at the time, proves to us that God is WITH you, God lives IN you, and if God be FOR you, who can be against you? He shows us that even when the mountains we face are high and all hell is breaking loose, that you can go to sleep at night.
Think about it. If it’s true that the Lord neither slumbers nor sleeps, what good is it for us to be up all night. I don’t care what’s happening! God’s people can still get some rest even in restless times.
So if you’re facing troubling times, if you’re having trouble putting your worries, your doubts, and your fears to bed, ask the Lord to grant you peace that is only available through Him. Pray that He would calm your spirit like He calmed Peter’s, and believe that you can sleep because the Lord never does.
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