Swallow No Camels

May 5, 2026 – Praying for Peter in Prison — Acts #39
Acts. 12:1-17

Last week, we looked at the first five verses of Acts 12, and the Holy Spirit took us in a challenging direction.  I talked about Herod Agrippa and how he was from a family line of Herods that were evil and murderous.  Remember that Agrippa’s grandfather, Herod the not-so-great, killed his father, his grandmother, two of his uncles, and 4 other family members, not to mention scores of Jews and all the children under two years of age in Bethlehem.  And then Herod the not-so-great sent his grandson, Agrippa, off to Rome.  

Agrippa returns and becomes ruler over the same land as his grandfather.  And he followed in his grandfather’s murderous footsteps, killing James, the brother of John, just to win favor with the Jewish Temple leadership.  He locked up Peter, intending to kill him next.  And the question we addressed last week is: How can we possibly forgive someone who commits such horrible murders? 

And the answer we came to is that forgiveness is not optional, and we are to imitate our Heavenly Father, who has, out of his grace, forgiven us. And our ability to forgive such evil is a gift of grace from God through the power of the Holy Spirit available to us.

Let’s review last week’s scripture and then continue the story:

Acts 12:1-17   About that time, Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.
Now, when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”
And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.   When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”
“When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying….

There is more to this story, and we will continue it next week, but Today I want to focus on how the followers of Jesus responded to the arrest and expected murder of Peter.  Luke tells us in the beginning of the story that “earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. (verse 5).   The Jesus followers in Jerusalem engaged in this type of prayer, “earnest prayer,” and God then did a miracle, rescuing Peter from prison the day before he was to be executed.   Perhaps we need to learn to pray the way that they prayed.

But what is ‘earnest’ prayer?  Perhaps you could get your Bible Study group together, and you could go around the room, and ask everyone, “What do you think that means?  And that would be an interesting exercise, but I don’t think it would really help us know the answer.   I think the worst possible question anyone could ever ask in a Bible study is: “What do you think that scripture means?”

Because it really doesn’t matter what you think it means.  What matters is what God meant for that scripture to say when he had Luke write it down, and then what God wants us to understand in light of that. 

When God placed the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden, he didn’t go around the room to Adam and Eve and ask them, “What do you think about this fruit?  Is it good or bad?”  No.  That is the whole point of the story.  Adam and Eve aren’t supposed to guess about the fruit or use their best judgment about the fruit. But that is exactly what they did, and you know how that worked out.  There are times in life where you have to use your best judgment, but let me tell you what your best judgment should always be:  Follow God’s path and His ways and not your own.  

Proverbs 3:5-7 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
 Be not wise in your own eyes.

Just be obedient.  Don’t try to figure out a better way. We, humans, are very good at rationalizing bad decisions. We can convince ourselves that anything is good.  But we must follow God’s way, his path.  The same principle applies when trying to understand scripture.

When you read the Bible, you have to lean on the Holy Spirit within you. It is incredible what some people can convince themselves that the Bible means.   Now you don’t stick your brain in neutral.  God gave you the ability to think and reason, but we have to learn to use that ability within the guidelines of scripture. 

And because the Bible is one story of how God deals with people and his teaching of how we should live, we must use the Bible to understand the Bible.   So we must study God’s word daily and learn it.  This is why the guys in my Bible Study group tell me we jump all over the Bible each week.   Because it is one coherent story of the way God consistently deals with us, and we can use one part of the Bible to explain another. 

With that in mind, let’s see if the rest of the scripture gives us any clues to discover what “earnest prayer” is.

We have a couple of ways to use God’s word to help us try to figure out what kind of prayer this is.  Now, most of you can’t read the original Greek, so I have told you before what you can do.  Take a look at several different translations and see what English word they use there.   If they all use the same word, then you can be more certain that the translation is correct.  If you see some big differences, then you know you have to dig deeper.

An easy way to do this is to, on your computer, use a search engine and enter: “the verse (Acts 12:5) then “Bible Hub”.  The first hit on your search will be “biblehub.com“, where it lists over 40 different translations for that verse.  You will see the following as possible translations for the phrase “earnest prayer”: earnestly praying, fervently praying, praying without ceasing (KJV), intensely praying, fervent and persistent prayer, praying very hard, and long and fervent prayer.

These are all somewhat similar.  But praying long or without ceasing refers to the length of time of praying, while ‘fervent and intensely” is about how hard you are praying (whatever that means). 

So which is it, or is it both?  And we want to know how to be effective as a church praying for people.  Praying for others is something we do every time we meet, and many times throughout the day.   So this is important.  And we know that none of these words are the words that Luke originally said, so let’s look at the Greek to see what word he used.

The Greek word used as an adjective for prayer here is  ἐκτενῶς  or ‘ektenos’.  Ektenos is from the work ‘ektenes’ which means ‘stretched out or taut.’   As in a rope that is pulled taut.  The Bible Knowledge Commentary tells us this Greek word was used to describe the taut muscles of an athlete who strains to win a race.  I am a very visual learner, so let me give you a picture.¹

This is ektenos –  This is Texas A&M Hurdler Infinite Tucker in the SEC 2019 Championships.  Look at this athlete, diving for the finish line in this 400-meter hurdles race.  He is stretched out to his full potential.  This man is going all out, giving 100%.   You don’t see the next frame of this photo finish, but you can tell this is going to be a rough landing.  It is going to hurt.  But this athlete is willing to sacrifice his body to give all he has to win.

And this is how Luke said the followers of Jesus were praying.  It is not just praying long prayers or praying without ceasing, but that is part of it.  It is giving prayer all you have, 100% of your energy, willing to sacrifice anything, willing to pray as long as it takes.  When you think of prayer, I want you to keep this picture in mind.  

You find this word used as an adjective for prayer only twice in the Bible, both by Luke.  The other is in Luke 22.  So let’s take a look at that passage and see if we can get a better idea of how these Jesus followers are praying for Peter.

Luke 22:39-46  “And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him.
And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

This is ektenos praying.  It is an intense, urgent prayer.  Jesus is praying with all he has for as long as he can. He is praying while his disciples are falling asleep.  The gospels describe him sweating as great drops as of blood.  Like a runner at the finish line, he is stretched out to his full potential before the Father.  Eketnos praying.

That fierce praying is what the followers of Jesus are doing for Peter in Acts 12.  And I have to think Luke chose this rarely used word in both instances because he wants us to see the similarities between these passages.

Look at the similarities between Luke 22 and Acts 12:
Both have ‘ektenos’ prayer (the only 2 instances in the Bible)
Both happen the same week of the year, at Passover.
Both involve the arrest of a religious leader.
Both events happen on the eve of that leader’s death.
Both passages deal with being asleep or awake.

In Luke 22, Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives to pray and tells His disciples, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”   Then He withdraws, and in deep agony, He prays.  When He returns, what does He find?     They are asleep.

Luke 22:45  And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow,

Luke tells us they were “sleeping from sorrow,” which at first seems like an odd phrase.  But it had been a long week for all of them.  40% of the Gospel of John is what happened during that busy last week.   And at the Last Supper, Jesus had just given them some really hard news.  One of you will betray me.  You will all desert me, and Peter, you will deny me three times before the morning.  I am going away, and you can’t go with me.  So this night, they are overwhelmed and emotionally exhausted.  They are unable to stay spiritually alert in a critical moment.

Now contrast that to Acts 12. Peter, who slept in the garden of Gethsemane on the eve of Jesus’ execution, is asleep again, but this time in a prison cell, on the eve of his own execution. At first glance, these may seem similar. But they are profoundly different. In Gethsemane, sleep is failure—a lack of vigilance in the face of temptation.  But in prison, sleep is a demonstration of trust—a calm resting in God’s control.

Does anybody here have trouble sleeping?  It is a real problem, isn’t it?  There was a time in my life when sleep was never a problem.  I could stay awake all night if needed (and I did many nights working in a hospital), and I could sleep anywhere, any time.  Now I seem to have little control over my sleep.  I can’t control when I sleep and when I wake.   I recently read about the secret to falling asleep.  It was on Facebook.  But, wait, this is really true. The secret to going to sleep: 1. become over 60 years old.  2. Sit in a chair.  But most nights I am awake at 3:00 or 4:00 and unable to go back to sleep. (And that may explain my nighttime chair sleep.) 

Have you ever had trouble sleeping at night because of what would happen the next morning?  Have you ever been so worried that you had trouble sleeping?  Peter is in a prison cell, chained on both sides to guards.  This is not the Marriott.  And Peter faces the night knowing that the next morning Herod Agrippa will order someone to take a sword and chop off his head.    And yet Peter has no trouble sleeping because he has faith that no matter what happens, he is in God’s hands.   This is not the sleep of failure but the sleep of faith. 

Notice that in the middle of the night, while Peter sleeps, the angel slips in right next to Peter and fills the room with light.   That might be enough to wake most people.  And it wasn’t a candle.  This wasn’t a night light.  This is angel light, the kind that can light up the whole night sky for the shepherds in Bethlehem (Luke 2:9-10); it is described as lightning (Daniel 10:5-6) or, in Revelation, as “illuminating the earth” (Rev. 18:1). But that doesn’t wake the faithful sleep of Peter.

So Luke says the angel “struck Peter on the side” and woke him.   He struck him.  That is no gentle nudge from the angel.  This Greek word ‘patasso’ is a very violent word.  It is a very odd choice of a word to wake someone up.  Let me show you another example of that same Greek word for being struck,  and guess where? In the Garden of Gethsemane story (what a coincidence).

So Jesus is being taken by soldiers, and his followers ask if they should fight back.  But before Jesus answers, Luke tells us that “one of them” took a sword and struck a servant, cutting off his ear.  Luke doesn’t tell us which follower it was; he doesn’t have to.  We could all guess which disciple acted rashly.  But in case you weren’t sure, the Gospel of John specifies it was Peter. 

This is the same word Luke uses for what the angel does to awaken Peter.  A violent strike.  Again, an odd word to use to awaken someone.  Luke keeps dropping these bread crumbs to lead you back from Acts 12 to the story he told earlier in his gospel.  He wants us to make the connection to this ektenos prayer and to show us the dramatic change in Peter from before the resurrection to Acts.

Peter is not the same person who fell asleep in the Garden, who impetuously struck a person with a sword, and denied Jesus the next day.  Instead, he is the apostle so calmed by faith that he can sleep soundly the night before he will be struck by a sword for refusing to deny Jesus the next day.  Peter is a new person.  He has found the truth of the gospel, and he has been filled with the Holy Spirit.  And the result of his surrender to Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is that he is not the same. 

Peter is not someone who is just trying to do better.  Peter didn’t just tell God, “Hey, I’m sorry.  I know I have a problem with being rash and impetuous.   I’ll try to do better.”  No, for you see that never works.    Whatever your issue, whatever sin you are working on in your life this morning, trying to do better will get you nowhere.  You can’t do it on your own. 

Peter is not different because he tried harder.  Peter is different because Jesus gave him a new heart.  Peter quit trying to do it on his own and turned over control of his life to Jesus.  He made Jesus king of his life.  He doesn’t follow Peter anymore; he follows Jesus.  The Holy Spirit has come into Peter, and he isn’t a better person – he is a different person.  

He is being conformed to the image of Christ.  He is becoming who God meant him to be.  He is reflecting the image of God.

So Luke wants us to look back from Acts 12 to Luke 22 to see the difference in Peter; the difference that the Holy Spirit makes.  And Luke also wants us to understand better the kind of praying we should do—ektenos prayer.  The followers of Jesus are praying for Peter, as Jesus did in the Garden — as we should pray today.

Now this story continues after Peter’s escape.  And next week we’ll look at the rest of the story and see what else Luke wants us to learn.  But I want us to take a little time and consider our response to these lessons from Luke today.  Of all the responses to the lessons we learn in Acts 12 and Luke 22, let me focus on just a couple of possible responses.

First, you may be tired of dealing with the same issue over and over, the same sin.  You may have been trying to rid yourself of a particular problem or sin for years.  Today, accept the fact that you can’t do it yourself.  It won’t happen by trying harder.  It will happen when you come to Jesus and ask him to change your heart. 

It will happen when, like Peter, you quit trying on your own, and you give in to God’s control of your life.  When you ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit, that will empower you to be the person God created you to be, unencumbered by that burden of sin and failure.  Today is a good day to pray that prayer and submit this portion of your life fully to Him. 

Secondly, perhaps you realize that your prayer life is not filled with ektenos prayer.  Maybe your prayers are mere words quickly mentioned as if in passing, before you move on to ‘more important’ things.  When is the last time you prayed as the people in Acts 12 prayed for Peter, the way Jesus prayed in the Garden?  When did you pray to the Father stretched out to your full potential, will every ounce of your being?  This is how we should pray.

This is how we should pray.  This guy in lane 5 thinks he is giving it all he’s got.  But he hasn’t shown the intensity we see from his competitor in lane 4.  So what do your prayers look like?  Maybe your prayers are more like the guys we can’t see in lanes 1-3.  Or maybe your prayers have never left the starting block.   Jesus prayed like the guy in lane 4. The church prayed for Peter like this guy.  Where are your prayers in this picture?

I am not telling you that every prayer prayed this way will be answered as you wish.  I will remind you that Jesus’ prayer in the Garden was not answered as he wanted.  He prayed that he would not have to suffer.  He said, “Let this cup pass from me.”  But he also prayed that God’s will be done.  And it was, and he suffered horribly…for our salvation.

No, not every ektenos prayer will be answered as you wish, but I think Luke is telling us that this is how we should pray.  If you really care about someone who is sick or dying, if you are actually heartbroken about a small child in trouble, or people starving in a famine.   If you are truly concerned about the spiritual state of a friend or family member, then do you care enough to go all out in prayer?  So perhaps today will be the day to take prayer seriously and commit to praying as Jesus prayed.

1. So the opposite of ektenes (stretched out or taut) is a slack rope.  We use the word “slacker” to refer to someone who is lazy or a poor worker.   It is not a new use of a word.
   Proverbs  18:9  “Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.”
   So, 3000 years ago, you could call someone who was lazy a “slacker.” (And you thought that was new slang.)