The Coolidge examiner., 1939-03-09

LESSON TEXT-Acts 12:5-17.
GOLDEN TEXT-Prayer was made
without ceasing of the church unto God
for him.-Acts 1875.
Prayer Changes Things" says a
popular motto More things are
wrought by prayer than this world
dreams Of" is another much-uSed
quotation. Still another is, Satan
trembles when he sees the weakest
saint upon his knees" We say the
words, but how often we fail to
practice the truth. Prayer seems to
be such an interesting topic for dis
cussion, and yet so seldom do we
really pray. The teaching of Gods
Word and the testimony OF thou
sands Of His children down through
the centuries, yes, even our own ex-
perience, demonstrates that the
greatest power for good that we can
WELD is prayer.~God give us grace
to use it in our daily walk and life
and for His glory
l. Prayer for a Prisoner ". 81.
The members of the early Church
| knew what to do with their prob
lens and troubles. They prayed.
The same solution is available to-
day Whatever else we may do by
way of planning and working, it
must follow prayer if we are to sue
ceed We really cannot do anything
else until we have prayed.
Troubles may be a blessing if
| they drive us to our knees. Peter
was in jail for the gospels sake.
Prayer had been made for his de-
liverance, and yet the last night
had come and he was still not free.
However, his friends prayed on God
had given them faith to believe and
| the conviction that they should con-
| tinue in prayer for him. Under such
| circumstances we must never cease
to pray, even though the very Zero
hour" has come. Mans extremity
is Gods opportunity"
ii. Deliverance by God wv. 6-1O.
God does answer prayer. Some
presumably brilliant folk would have
us believe that prayer is merely a
subjective experience, sort of spir-
| itual exercise, which does the indi-
vidual who prays certain good, but
never reaches God or changes
Things. How would they explain
what happened to Peter, and the
hundreds of thousands of other def
mite prayer answers throughout the
centuries?
The answer in Peters case was
so remarkable that even he thought
he was only dreaming. Apparently
God gave His prosecuted servant
sweet sleep that night, while He
kept Peters friends alert in prayer.
But when Peter found himself out
side the prison he knew something
had happened.
There are many interesting things
to note in this incident. Observe
that what Peter could do for him.
self God did not do, but what Peter
could not do, Gods angel did. Note
also that when God works, the spir-
itually unenlightened know nothing
of it. The guards did not know
what had happened until morning.
Consider also that the angel took
Peter as far as the open street, then
left him to himself. God may meet
a special need by miraculous inter-
vention, but that does not mean
that from then on we are to live by
constant miracles. There are many
practical and precious spiritual
lessons which we may learn from
these verses.
Ill. Results of Answered Pray
er (vv. HID.
God does not answer prayer or
perform any of His mighty works
simply to make people marvel or
to add to someone's comfort. 1t is
| true that He does thus manifest His
loving consideration for us, and that
men do marvel at His greatness,
but there are other purposes in the
workings of His grace and power.
In this case the first result was
the freedom of His witness. He had
been in prison and that was for
Gods glory; now he was to be free,
and that too was to be for His
| glory.
Then, His deliverance was a great
testimony, not only to those who
were praying in the upper room, but
to Gods people down through the
ages. Answered prayer is one of
the great testimonies to the Chris
tan faith.
Fellowship resulted from Peters
| liberation. He went at once to meet
/ with his fellow believers. Although
he did not tarry long with them, he
! did share with them his remarkable
experience, and admonished them
to tell the others. If God has done
something for you, share the good
news with your brethren.