Sometimes as you read the Bible, a word stops you and “asks” you to investigate it further. Recently, as I was reading Acts 12:5 (CSB), that word was “fervently.” Now, it’s not the first time that I’ve paid attention to this word. It’s that kind of word that jumps out at you to be noticed. This time, however, the Spirit intended to take me deeper.
I looked up the Greek word used by Luke. It is ektenos, which means fervent, earnest, or intense, but I also noticed that it is from a verb that means to stretch out the hand or to be stretched out. The latter made me think of prayer warriors stretched flat out on the ground in prayer, in this context, for Peter’s rescue from Herod. This is a serious position in prayer. So, yes, that’s an echo of other studies of this passage that I’ve done.
However, as I moved forward in the chapter to Acts 12:11, after Peter was set free by the angel, I read Peter’s words, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from all that the Jewish people expected.”
Herod thought he had Peter in his grasp, just as he had had James, who he killed with the sword. But the truth was the Church through prayer (12:5) were stretching out God’s hand to grasp Peter. Notably, that’s the power—the faith expressed—when Christ Followers take the work of prayer seriously.
Jesus taught the disciples, in a parable, “to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up).” (Luke 18:1 AMPC) Meyer’s NT Commentary notes that this parable in Luke 18 “was calculated to stimulate them to unremitting prayer.” As the Amplified Bible describes, that’s the kind of prayer that doesn’t give up, the kind of prayer that stretches out the hand. If I had a movie of this parable in my mind’s eye, it would be of the widow down on her knees or even face down stretching out her hand to the judge as she pleads against her adversary before him. She persisted in prayer until she received her answer.
The parables aren’t just nice stories. They are the Word of God written to instruct us. Paul wrote, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16 NKJV)
The question Jesus asked as He ended the parable was, “When I, the Messiah, return, how many will I find who have faith and are praying?” (Luke 18:8 TLB)
Are we in these times as the end draws near stretching out our hands exemplifying faith in prayer? Our world is running out of time. We need to be a part of their rescue out of the hand of our adversary.
So be it!
