“Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die;”
Psalm 79:11 · KJV
Today's reading — Acts 12:1-19▾
(1) Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth
his hands to vex certain of the church.
(2) And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
(3) And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.)
(4) And when he had apprehended him, he put
him in prison, and delivered
him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.
(5) Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.
(6) And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.
(7) And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon
him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from
his hands.
(8) And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.
(9) And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision.
(10) When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him.
(11) And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and
from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.
(12) And when he had considered
the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying.
(13) And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda.
(14) And when she knew Peter’s voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate.
(15) And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his angel.
(16) But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened
the door,
and saw him, they were astonished.
(17) But he, beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, Go shew these things unto James, and to the brethren. And he departed, and went into another place.
(18) Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers, what was become of Peter.
(19) And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he examined the keepers, and commanded that
they should be put to death. And he went down from Judaea to Caesarea, and
there abode.
In 1982, the year after I became the General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, my wife, who was teaching at the small school we had started at the church’s headquarters in Ebute Metta, Lagos State, asked if I could assist her in the school. She felt that since I had become a full-time pastor, my help would go a long way. In that school, nobody was paying any fees. Those who attended the school were children of church members who wanted a secure place for their children to stay while they were away at work. We had a small bus at that time to transport those children from their various homes to school every morning.
One morning, the bus had gone to pick up the children and was returning to the school when it was caught in the midst of an armed robbery operation in Oyingbo, a community in Ebute Metta. Gunshots were fired, and a stray bullet hit one of the pupils inside the bus. The bullet passed through the child’s body and brought out his intestines as it created an exit wound. To cut a long story short, the driver turned back and started heading towards the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). There was heavy traffic on the road, so it took them approximately two hours to reach LUTH. When they got to the hospital, the doctors looked at the boy, saw the amount of blood he had lost, and concluded that there was no need to waste time on him. They were certain that there was nothing that could be done to save the boy, so they didn't bother to attend to him. However, the school helpers, who were also on the school bus, and other people with them did not stop praying for the boy.
One hour later, a doctor said, “This boy is still breathing. Let us do something, even if all we have to do is stitch him up.” So, they took him into the theatre, removed the bullet, stitched him up, and waited for him to die. To the glory of God, that child has now become an adult, and he is still alive today!
Beloved, make it a duty to pray for other people’s children. Let God use you to save someone’s child through prayer. Rather than complain about the bad character of some of the children around you, get on your knees and pray for them to be well-behaved and God fearing.
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Open Heavens daily devotional by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, published by RCCG.
