Acts 12:5-11 Just believe!!!!

Never limit God’s power in your life! He is the God of miracles.

Just believe!

In the measure that we believe in Him is the measure that we can receive from Him.

Trust God in His perfect will  for your life!

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” - Albert Einstein

In his book about his life change, Pearson wrote, “Saved not only from hell and eternal damnation, but saved from itself—saved from its erroneous perceptions of God and good... If I am judged for perceiving Christ or Christianity in error, I’d rather be wrong for overestimating the love of God than underestimating it. I’d rather err on the goodness, greatness and graciousness of God than the opposite.”

Yes... I can speak from my heart, with compassion, and see (or welcome) my brothers and sisters, because I see (and honor) the common ground we share.

When I was young, I remember a book that got me thinking; Your God is Too Small, by JB Phillips.

And it's so true, that we're taught to put God in a box, and whoever doesn't believe that box, must not believe "in God". That's the way I was raised... and my own journey has been to welcome the gift—that God is bigger than any box created.

Richard Rohr’s reminder, “By God’s love, mercy, and grace, we are already the Body of Christ: the one universal body that has existed since the beginning of time. You and I are here for just a few decades, dancing on the stage of life, perhaps taking our autonomous selves far too seriously. That little and clearly imperfect self just cannot believe it could be a child of God. I hope the gospel frees us to live inside of a life that is larger than the one our small selves have imagined. SabbathMoments 

Acts 12:5-11

5 Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. 6 And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. 7 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. 8 Then the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and tie on your sandals”; and so he did. And he said to him, “Put on your garment and follow me.” 9 So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.

11 And when Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people.”   The New King James Version

Two of the soldiers in the squad are chained to Peter while the other two keep watch. This choice to guard him this closely is probably due to him being freed miraculously earlier. Peter finally realized that his dream was real. This is not a reference primarily to Jews as opposed to Gentiles (non-Jewish people), but to Jews who have rejected Jesus as Messiah and are opposed to the Christian community and its mission. Faithlife Study Bible

Peter was arrested and slated to be executed like James. However, Peter’s execution was delayed because it was against Jewish law to have a trial or sentencing during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, better known as Passover. This was Peter’s third arrest. During a previous incarceration, Peter had miraculously escaped with the help of an angel of the Lord who opened the gates of the prison. This time Peter was placed under maximum security in the care of four squads of soldiers of four men each. The soldiers worked three-hour shifts. Both of Peter’s wrists were chained, and he had a soldier on each side. Outside Peter’s cell, two more soldiers stood guard. Why was Peter’s life spared while James’s life was taken? The answer is the sovereign will of God. If we believe that God is good and wise, we can trust that what He allowed to happen was part of His wise plan for the good of all of His people. When we place our complete trust in the goodness of God, we can find true peace. God is in control despite any appearance to the contrary. The NKJV Study Bible

Daniel 3:28 Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!

Daniel 6:22 My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.”

Luke 15:17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

Acts 5:19 But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said,

Acts 16:26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.