Two Sundays ago, I walked into church and thought to myself, ‘Where in the world do we go from here?’

While I had no doubt that our pastor was doing great and enjoying the glory of Heaven, my heart was still so heavy from our loss here on earth. 

So many questions filled my head. 

How do we move forward? How do we continue to pray? Where do we go from here? 

That Sunday, Pastor Ryan Leak took us to Acts chapter 12. It’s there I discovered, WE ARE NOT ALONE.  We are not the first church to have endured such a loss, and we won’t be the last. 

In Acts 12, we read…

“About that time King Herod Agrippa began to persecute some believers in the church. He had the apostle James (John’s brother) killed with a sword. When Herod saw how much this pleased the Jewish people, he also arrested Peter…But while Peter was in prison, THE CHURCH PRAYED VERY EARNESTLY for him.”

The church had just lost James, the brother of John, a pillar of the first century church. Now Peter, another pillar,  was imprisoned by the same crazy King. 

Did the church give up? 

Did the church stop praying? 

No & No. 

“THE CHURCH PRAYED EARNESTLY FOR HIM.” 

And thank God they did!!! 

As a result of their prayers, a miracle took place!!! 

While Peter was in prison, sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains- An angel of the Lord appeared, struck Peter on the side, and woke him up from his prison cell. 

Peter’s chains fell off his wrist! He and the angel miraculously walked past the guards, iron gates opened for them and Peter joined the prayer meeting that was being held on his behalf. 

So what do WE do when we are broken hearted and disappointed? We do what the early church did. 

We keep praying. ??

We keep believing. 

We keep moving forward. 

If you have ever been disappointed by the outcome of your prayers ??‍♀️, please click on the YouTube link below to listen to Ryan Leak’s ENTIRE teaching. (I’ve listened to it THREE times!)

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be strengthened, you’ll be encouraged. 

~binu