I was reading in Acts chapter 12 this morning when verse 7 caught my attention. It says Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise Quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands. I completed the chapter but couldn’t get Arise Quickly! out of my mind. As I prayed over this verse, I began to think how many of us is the Lord telling right now to Arise Quickly?
As I continued to pray I thought there are a lot of Christians in our churches today who are down and out. They have situations and circumstances that have chained them down inside their own prison. They feel defeated and are ready to give up. Today if that is you, I want you to know that God is not giving up on you. He is still working on your behalf and if you stay focused and keep your eye on Him, He will bring you out of this. See that verse goes on to say that once the Angel said Arise Quickly, then the chains fell off his hands. The chains didn’t fall off then the Angel tell him to Arise Quickly. The angel could have had the chains fall off and he could have carried Peter out of prison, but he didn’t. He told him to get up and get himself together. He told him to get dressed, to put his shoes on, and Peter walked out of prison. This action from Peter showed his trust and faith in God. He didn’t just sit there when the angel told him to get up with a woe is me attitude. He didn’t worry about waking the guards, because he trusted God and he was going to do what the angel told him to do. If this is you today put your trust in God, pray, and fast over your situation. God will bring you out of this. He will cause the chains that are binding you to fall off, if you stay focused on Him and the purpose He has for you.
As a church we see Christians that we call family that are suffering and going through hard times. We say things like we feel bad for them and wish there was something we could do to help them. There is something we can do as their church family, and that is pray. If you go back to verse 5 it says Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. Sometimes people are going through pain and heartache that we can’t fix or take away, but we serve One who can. We serve a God that will walk with them and comfort them in ways we are not capable of. As a church we need to be in constant prayer for each other. If we know of a situation then we need to come together as a church and pray for that person. We need to cry out to God on their behalf for the chains that bind them to fall off. They need to feel our love for them and know we are there for them in the physical as well as in prayer.
Today in your prayer time lift up your church family to God. Lift up your Pastor and his family to God. Ask God to cover each and everyone of them with His love and protection.
Thank you and please share!!
Walking By Faith With Tressie 
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