Pastor Jeff Anders continues Elijah — God’s Praying Prophet on Sunday morning. After a short look back at what happened whenever Elijah prayed, and after naming seven things we miss when we quit, this message adds an eighth: ministries will be hindered if God’s people do not keep on praying. The text for the morning is Acts 12.
From the Series: When Elijah Prayed, Things Looked Up
Elijah is held up for New Testament believers as God’s praying prophet. James says that when he prayed, things started looking up (James 5:16–18):
- The rain dried up — three and a half years with no rain, so Ahab and Jezebel’s “storm god” Baal was shown to be no god at all (1 Kings 17:1).
- The provision showed up — water at the brook Cherith and ravens bringing food, then the widow of Zarephath, in the heart of Baal worship, with one last meal of meal and oil for herself and her son (1 Kings 17:2–16).
- The dead rose up — the widow’s son (1 Kings 17:17–24).
- The sacrifice burned up — on Mount Carmel the prophets of Baal got no answer, but after Elijah’s short prayer God sent supernatural fire that consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones of the altar, and the water (1 Kings 18:20–40). Judgment then fell on the prophets of Baal.
- The clouds opened up — the place the series has stayed for a while, and the preacher said we will not be stuck there forever (1 Kings 18:41–46).
He Kept On Praying Until the Rain Came (1 Kings 18:41–46)
Elijah told Ahab to get up, eat, and drink, because he heard the sound of abundance of rain — not thunder in the air, but faith that God was about to send it (1 Kings 18:41). Back on Carmel he put his face between his knees and prayed. The servant looked: nothing. A second time, a third, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth — still nothing on the horizon. He stayed in that awkward posture and would not quit. He prayed until God heard and God answered, because he knew rain was the will of God, and he kept praying until that will became reality.
Elijah is our example: the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16). What if he had stopped? Sometimes we pray about a thing a time or two, nothing happens, and we decide God must be saying no — the way Paul prayed three times about his thorn and then left it with the Lord (2 Corinthians 12:7–9). Elijah was not in that place. He knew what God wanted, and you could not get him to stop. Or what if a little machine in his pocket started ringing — a Facebook post, a text, a voicemail — and he quit the prayer meeting to scroll and play? What if a ballgame was on and he said he would pray again later? If he had gotten discouraged or distracted, the rain he was trusting God for would not have come. The New Testament church is told to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). So the question is not only what Elijah would have missed. It is what will not happen if we do not pray and keep on praying.
Seven Things We Miss If We Stop Praying
Pastor Anders reviewed what he had already preached, then said he was about to give number eight.
- Joy — ask, that your joy may be full (John 16:24).
- Peace — quit worrying and pray about everything, and God’s peace will guard heart and mind (Philippians 4:6–7). Without prayer we may be full of anxiety instead.
- Power — the early church prayed until God shook the place, filled them, and they spoke the Word with boldness (Acts 4:31). We may never experience the power of God if we do not keep praying.
- Gifts and blessings — ask, seek, knock (Matthew 7:7–11). If you do not ask, you may not receive; if you do not seek, you may not find; if you do not knock, it may not be opened.
- Fellowship with God — Christ stands at the door and knocks, wanting to come in and sup with His people (Revelation 3:20). We open that door through prayer. Fellowship with God will never be what it ought to be if we will not spend time in prayer.
- Battles the enemy may win — watch and pray, so you do not fall into the devil’s traps; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41).
- Lives that will not be changed — Wednesday night’s message. People need help, and God changes lives through prayer, whether that is Paul in prison or Israel bitten by serpents in the wilderness. If we do not keep praying, there are lives that will not be changed.
Number Eight: Ministries Will Be Hindered (Acts 12)
If we do not keep on praying the way Elijah did, ministries may well be hindered. There are other things a ministry has to have, but the greatest thing — the number one thing at the top of the list — is to get alone with God and pray, and keep on praying, or the work will be held back.
The Enemy Still Crawls Around (Genesis 3)
Sometimes the attack on a ministry is direct and demonic. Pastor Anders pressed the church to be sensitive enough to recognize when that is happening. He went back to the garden: the serpent was attractive, he talked, and he lied. Eve was deceived — and deception, by its nature, means you do not know you are being lied to (Genesis 3). The devil gets a grip on a heart we cannot see with our eyes, and he can work through a person — through their lies and their influence — to damage someone else.
In Acts 12 that stronghold is in King Herod. He ruled a large territory, including Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, and he was in political trouble with both Rome and the Jewish leaders. Everything he did was angled to curry favor. The church was preaching that the One the leaders crucified is God Himself, the Messiah, risen from the dead. The leaders hated that message and wanted it covered up and shut down. To please them — which also helped him with Rome — Herod stretched out his hand to persecute certain ones in the church (Acts 12:1). The same snake from the garden was still crawling, lying, and wrapped around Herod’s heart, trying to destroy the ministry.
James Killed with the Sword (Acts 12:2)
Herod killed James the brother of John with the sword. Pastor Anders tied that death back to the day James and John, with their mother, asked for the places at Christ’s right hand and left hand. Jesus told them it was not His to give, and asked whether they were able to be baptized with the baptism He would be baptized with — not water, but suffering. They said they were able. He said they would indeed suffer (Matthew 20:20–23). James, who heard those words, now finds them fulfilled. Whether he was thrust through or beheaded, he was killed with the sword. James is gone. God’s ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. He allowed the devil to take one of the church’s leaders out.
When Herod saw that this pleased the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, he decided on a second act. They thought the ministry of the gospel was finished — that the church would curl up and quit. That is exactly what the devil and his demons have in mind: to stop and hinder the ministry of the gospel. Herod himself was mostly playing politics. He was still that snake.
Then He Took Peter Also (Acts 12:3–4)
During the days of unleavened bread, Herod proceeded further to take Peter also (Acts 12:3). Peter was the leader of the early church at this point; after this the book of Acts turns toward Paul. It is hard to see why God would let Peter live and not James — Peter, who had his struggles, and who once had to be told, “Get thee behind me.” Herod had him arrested, put in prison, and delivered to four quaternions of soldiers, intending after the feast to bring him out before the people (Acts 12:4). Pastor Anders pictured the watch in shifts of four hours: two soldiers chained to Peter, one on each side, and two guarding the door. Peter is not Samson. He is not breaking chains on his own.
Why so many soldiers? Because this had already happened. In Acts 5 Peter and John were jailed for preaching, and an angel brought them out. The council’s men found the prison empty and the apostles back in the temple preaching, and they had to be arrested again. Herod made sure this time Peter was chained down. His purpose was to kill Peter too — not during the Passover, so as not to stir the crowds, but to try him before the people and execute him as he had executed James. He went for the head of the ministry: first James, now Peter. The slithering snake had found a hole, wrapped himself around Herod, and aimed at the church Peter was leading.
The Church Prayed Without Ceasing (Acts 12:5)
Verse 5 is the hinge: Peter was still locked up, but the church kept praying for him without ceasing (Acts 12:5). Their shepherd, the man the Lord had assigned to feed the flock, was in jail, and the church got to praying like Elijah of old. This was not a short meeting at 7:00 on a Sunday evening or 11:00 on a Sunday morning and then everyone went home. Peter had been arrested, and they prayed for days. They would not stop.
They gathered at the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark — a large house, with a courtyard and a gate, and a big group praying there. Pastor Anders pictured them, day after day through the feast (Passover and unleavened bread, about eight days), sending someone for an update the way we might check online: Is Peter still in jail? Is he still alive? Still there — so pray another day. He said plainly that the Bible does not spell out those daily updates; he was drawing the picture. The point he was drawing it toward is what Elijah actually did: not once, not twice, not three times, not four or five or six, but seven times. The day before Herod meant to bring Peter out, they were still praying.
Peter Could Sleep (Acts 12:6–11)
That night the angel of the Lord came into the prison. A light shined, and the chains were taken off the soldiers Peter was chained to (Acts 12:7). Peter was so sound asleep that the glory and the noise did not wake him. The angel had to smite him on the side — a jolt to get him up. He is to be executed the next day, chained between soldiers, and he is asleep. Pastor Anders’ answer: Peter was resting in the Lord. He knew God is sovereign. On that walk when Jesus asked three times, “Do you love me? Feed my sheep,” He also told Peter that when he was old, others would carry him where he did not want to go — the kind of death he would die (John 21:15–19). Peter believed what Jesus said. He was not an old man yet, so this was not the day he would die. The chains fell off, the doors opened, they passed the second set of doors and the prison gate into the street, and only then did Peter realize he was not dreaming. He had been set free. He went to Mary’s house, where the church often gathered, and knocked at the gate.
The Answer Was Knocking, and They Would Not Open the Door (Acts 12:12–17)
A servant girl was watching the gate — a little security, with good reason. She heard the knock, recognized Peter’s voice, and was so excited she forgot to open the door. That is no small thing. Herod’s men were likely already hunting him, and it was dangerous for him to stay in the street. She ran back in and told the prayer meeting that Peter was outside. These were people who had been praying their hearts out for days, and they said it could not be — it must be his spirit, or an angel. The answer to their prayer was knocking at the door, and they would not open it.
When they finally let him in, they were so loud and so excited that Peter had to quiet them: Herod is looking for me; do not give away where we are. Then he told them what had happened. The church prayed, and the ministry continued on.
The Word of God Grew and Multiplied (Acts 12:24)
At the start of the chapter, James is dead, Peter is in prison, and the church in Jerusalem is in trouble. By the end of the chapter the Word of God grew and multiplied (Acts 12:24). They went from the threat of losing their ministry — their ministry leaders, anyway — to the Word growing and multiplying. The reason is that the church prayed and kept on praying. God heard. God answered. The answer was right there at the door, knocking. Don’t stop praying. And while you are praying, listen for the knock. God hears, and He answers.
Take-Homes
- Elijah would not quit until God’s known will became reality — effectual, fervent prayer (James 5:16; 1 Kings 18:41–46).
- Discouragement and distraction will end a prayer meeting before God is finished; pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
- Seven losses if we stop: joy, peace, power, gifts, fellowship, ground the enemy takes, and lives that never change (John 16:24; Philippians 4:6–7; Acts 4:31; Matthew 7:7–11; Revelation 3:20; Matthew 26:41).
- Number eight: ministries will be hindered. The first need of ministry is persevering prayer.
- The devil still deceives and still works through people in power to shut down the gospel (Genesis 3; Acts 12:1–4).
- James’ death fulfilled what Jesus had said about suffering; God’s ways are not ours (Matthew 20:22–23; Acts 12:2).
- When the leader was chained in prison, the church prayed without ceasing — not once, but day after day, like Elijah (Acts 12:5).
- Peter could sleep because he rested in what Jesus had already told him (John 21:18–19; Acts 12:6–7).
- Sometimes the answer is knocking and the prayer meeting does not believe it yet. Open the door (Acts 12:13–16).
- The church prayed, and the Word of God grew and multiplied (Acts 12:24). Don’t stop praying, and listen for the knock.