Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha
Herod suddenly developed a new passion, albeit, an
ungodly passion. It was the passion of killing believers, particularly the
leadership of the Church. He had killed James the brother of John and when he discovered
that the Jews were happy, he took a decision to also kill the Apostle Peter and
had him locked up on death row; to be killed any moment. What a trying moment
for the Church! James had recently been killed and Peter was next.
The Church was not prepared to suffer such losses
more so when they realized that Herod’s actions were not the will of God for
the Church. They took action and utilized one of the weapons of spiritual
warfare – constant prayer, which is pray until you see the desired result.
Significantly, the prayer sessions did not hold in the Church. They were held
in the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark. Does God answer prayers? The
fact that Peter was miraculously released from prison the night before he was
to be killed in the morning is evidence, in point of fact great evidence that
God answers prayers.
Keys to Averting Dangers
Total dependence and trust in God as in the cases of
Jehoshaphat and the Judeans against the three allied armies of Moab, Ammon and
Mount Seir recorded in 2nd Chronicles Chapter 20; and Hezekiah and
the Judeans against Sennecherib and his arrogant army. Please read Isaiah
Chapters 36 to 38 for details.
Additional cases include Daniel who opted to pray
and be thrown in the den of lions. God honored his faith and saved him from
being eaten by the lions. Unfortunately, his adversaries as well as members of
their families were the ones who became delicious food for the hungry lions.
Shedrach, Meshach and Abednego are also worthy of mention. They trusted God to
deliver them and even if god did not deliver them, they would rather be thrown
into the fiery furnace rather than bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s image. This
implies that obedience to God rather than men is another way of averting
dangers as God always come through for His own.
The application of divine wisdom as in the case of
Jochebed when she chose to save Moses from Pharaoh’s unjust death sentence on
all male Hebrew Children. Please read Exodus Chapters 1 and 2 for details.
Making prophetic declarations based on the word of
God as well as clear instructions from the word of God is yet another way of
averting dangers. This is evidenced in the case of the prophetic word uttered
by the prophet Elisha when the severe famine caused by the long siege of the
Syrians in Samaria became a reason for the practice of cannibalism by some
people in Samaria.
Constant prayer as in the case of Peter who would
have been killed by Herod but for the constant prayer vigil held by the Church
in the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark. Please read Acts Chapter 12 for
details.
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