Why it matters//
This passage is highlighting what can happen when we, as the Body of Christ, intercede on behalf of someone else. The power of God is made manifest. Supernatural things take place. We are all called as believers to be intercessors, though some of us even specifically have a gift of intercession. The emphasis of intercessory prayer is outward and for the sake of someone else. Sometimes this type of prayer in through a language we understand, about a subject we know; other times it can be about something or for someone beyond our understand through prayer in the Spirit.
What it’s talking about//
The book of Acts, Or Acts of the Apostles as some refer to it, was written around 80-90 AD by Luke, many believe, along with the Gospel of Luke. It chronicles the beginning of the church and the spread of the message of Christ through the Roman Empire. Acts highlights various signs and wonders performed by the apostles and early church beginning at Pentecost and onward. The book of Acts is the first part of a story that we, believers today, are still writing: The expansion of the gospel until the return of Christ.
Acts 12:5-17 NLT
5 But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.
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 had planned to do to me!”
12 When he realized this, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered for prayer.
13 He 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.
(Intercession in the Spirit)
Romans 8:26-27 NLT
26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.