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Excuses, excuses, the list may go on and on. Excuses for what? The excuses of why we do not pray more. I include myself in this group. There are times my prayer life is a very present sincere part of my life. Then there are times it drops away. When this happens I begin to feel something is missing in my life. As I realize the missing piece is prayer, my first prayer is. "Lord, bring me back to you, draw me back to you and give me the words to pray. May I hear from you what you desire me to hear and words to speak to you."

Today, I am reminded of the many Christians around the world who live in dangerous places and are persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. These thoughts bring any of my struggles and what I may see as lack back into a God centered perspective. Peter in prison continues to rise to the forefront of my thoughts as I write this. Peter was in prison, God intervened and he was released. At the same time the people were praying.

It reminds me of the importance that I must continue to be a woman of prayer and encourage others to do the same. Today as brothers and sisters around the world begin to pray, we may not realize that corporately we have been part of crying out to God. In these prayers our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ ARE LITERALLY released from prison!

Join me in prayer today: Ask God to show you the who and the what. Prayer is never a waste of time. It is for today! In speed it surpasses the speed of computers and those fancy phones we use. It is time to hang up the excuses, myself included.

Acts 12:6-19 (New Living Translation)

Peter’s Miraculous Escape from Prison

6 The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. Others stood guard at the prison gate. 7 Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, “Quick! Get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists. 8 Then the angel told him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Now put on your coat and follow me,” the angel ordered.

9 So Peter left the cell, following the angel. But all the time he thought it was a vision. He didn’t realize it was actually happening. 10 They passed the first and second guard posts and came to the iron gate leading to the city, and this opened for them all by itself. So they passed through and started walking down the street, and then the angel suddenly left him.

11 Peter finally came to his senses. “It’s really true!” he said. “The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and from what the Jewish leaders[a] had planned to do to me!”

12When he realized this, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered for prayer. 13He knocked at the door in the gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to open it. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the door, she ran back inside and told everyone, “Peter is standing at the door!”

15 “You’re out of your mind!” they said. When she insisted, they decided, “It must be his angel.”

16 Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking. When they finally opened the door and saw him, they were amazed. 17 He motioned for them to quiet down and told them how the Lord had led him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers what happened,” he said. And then he went to another place.

18 At dawn there was a great commotion among the soldiers about what had happened to Peter. 19 Herod Agrippa ordered a thorough search for him. When he couldn’t be found, Herod interrogated the guards and sentenced them to death. Afterward Herod left Judea to stay in Caesarea for a while.

Footnotes:

1. Acts 12:11 Or the Jewish people.

New Living Translation (NLT)

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