The life of the church will have many ‘ups and downs’. After a very positive period the church now experiences renewed opposition (v1-4).

We need to be ready for the good and the bad days. When bad days come, we must not see them as shocking as if they are unexpected. But neither should we become so negative as to not expect the good days again.

The killing of James and the arrest of Peter was shocking to the church, so they respond by doing the most important thing they could (v5).

Here we have a wonderful example of how prayer changes things (v6-11). Peter is miraculously delivered by an angel. We must remember that the God we pray to today, is the same God, with the same power. This passage should encourage us to pray for persecuted brothers and sisters across the world.

When Peter is released, he makes his way to the house of Mary where the church was meeting to pray (v12). When Peter knocks and Rhoda discovers who it is, the believers just can1t believe this (v13-15). This is quite amusing, but it also shows that as these people were praying, undoubtedly for Peter’s deliverance, they were praying with little expectation of their prayer being answered. Do you pray like that? Talk to God about this.