God Opens Impossible Doors

You're listening to the My Morning Devotional podcast, episode 1530. Today's Devo is called God Opens Impossible Doors. Hey there. We're the Alessies, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy and to do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time. That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a five minute daily dose of heaven. This is the My Morning Devotional Podcast. Good morning My Morning Devo. This is Stephanie and Happy Friday. We made it. We made it. We made it to the weekend. I hope you had a wonderful, blessed week. This week listening to my devos about the Book of Acts. And next week it's only going to get better. So keep on listening, keep on on sharing. If this bless you this week, let us know in the comments. Let us know on Instagram please. We want to hear that you enjoyed it, because what would this be if there wasn't any enjoyment? So let's dive into Today I AM reading Acts 12 in the NIV version 1 through 11. This is a powerful story, so let's dive into it. It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church. Intending to persecute them, he had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for the public trial after the Passover. So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. Quick, get up, he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists. Then the angel said to him, put on your clothes and sandals, and Peter did so. Wrap your cloak around you and follow me, the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea what the angel was doing was really happening. He thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen. Oh, my gosh. This is my theme for today. God works even when circumstances look impossible. Acts 12 begins with a tragedy. Disciples were being killed, were being imprisoned. But then it ends with a miracle. King Herod Agrippa, the first was persecuting the church. He executed James. Peter is arrested, and he's heavily guarded. And from the outside, it looked like the church was losing. But while Peter sleeps in prison, the church was praying. In the middle of the night, an angel wakes Peter and leads him out past the guards and through the prison gates. And Peter walks free. Can I tell you I spoke about prayer a couple weeks ago, but I want to reiterate it. Prayer invites God into impossible situations. I love that. While Peter was sleeping, the church was praying. While you were battling, the church was praying. While you are grieving, the church is praying. While you are sick and in the hospital, the church is praying. While you are running a race that you are exhausted from, the church is praying. While you are fighting for your marriage, the church is praying and prayer. Although it's a small gesture, it was the only gesture that brought the angel into a heavily guarded prison cell. And it unlocked the chains from Peter's hands. The chains literally fell off his wrists. And then the gate that's supposed to be super locked just opened. And where did this all start? With prayer. With the church praying for Peter. I know what an impossible situation feels like. You are ready to give up. You have tried to fix the marriage. You've tried to heal from that sickness. You have tried to go to counseling, and nothing seems to budge. And you've been working on this for years. You have been praying, you have been fasting, you've been doing everything you can to make it happen, but it's like there is a door slammed shut every time you try to pursue it. This is what I visually try to imagine if I need to run a mile on a track. Sometimes I get the most exhausted when I'm only 5ft from the end of that track. And I want to give up the most when there's only five feet left to reaching that mile. But what does that gap do? What exactly happens to me if I decide to push through to the very end past those five feet? That is where I become a better runner. That is where I become a stronger runner, mentally and physically and emotionally. Because in the very moment that my body and my mind are ready to give up, my spirit takes over and the grace of God takes over. And now I can finish this race. Not because it's my power, not because it's my might, but it's because of the spirit of the living God that is at work inside me. Maybe, guys, it's not supposed to be you that opens the impossible doors. Maybe it's not supposed to be you that saves the marriage. Maybe it's not supposed to be you that heals your body. Maybe it's supposed to be that angel that shows up up in the middle of the night because the church was praying that comes and heals your body, that comes and heals your marriage so that when your redemption actually does come, you can look back and say, if it wasn't for the grace of God, if it wasn't for Jesus, I wouldn't be here. Because if I had to do this in my strength, I would have given up already. But his Holy Spirit filled me. His Holy Spirit showed up and redeemed what was unredeemable. He did the impossible. And prayer invites God into impossible situations. Sometimes God changes circumstances and sometimes he gives us strength to endure them. But Acts 12 reminds us that God is still in control. So do not give up. Do not walk away from this. Do not lose hope. Allow God's spirit power to come into this situation and get you past the finish line. Have him help you do the impossible. The chains that hold us are never stronger than the God who frees us. Let's pray. God, we thank you that your mighty working power can deliver us from those impossible situations. God, we say that your power is supernatural for a reason. You take the natural and you make it super. God, you do the things that the rest of the world cannot do. You do the things that we cannot do. So Father, if some of us today feel like we need to give up, we feel like we just want to lose hope and walk away from a situation. I pray that your Holy Spirit will just step in the middle of this just like the angel stepped in the middle of prison to save Peter. I pray that your spirit will step into this moment and do the impossible, that it will redeem the unredeemable. So God, we let go. We finally let go of the wheel and let you take over. And we continue to stay in prayer knowing that you will be faithful to us and we will see our miracle happen. And in Jesus name, we all pray. Amen. So there you have it, your 5 minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We pray these devotionals empower you to take on your day. If you found value in this devotional, share it with a friend, leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow, we pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.