“Ultimately the transcript of your life becomes the script of your life.” – Mark Batterson

Jeremiah 33:3 CSB – Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know.

Acts 12:1-5 CSB – About that time King Herod violently attacked some who belonged to the church, 2 and he executed James, John’s brother, with the sword. 3 When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too, during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 4 After the arrest, he put him in prison and assigned four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover. 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was praying fervently to God for him.

Acts 12:6-10 CSB – When Herod was about to bring him out for trial, that very night Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while the sentries in front of the door guarded the prison. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. Striking Peter on the side, he woke him up and said, “Quick, get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists. 8 “Get dressed,” the angel told him, “and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Wrap your cloak around you,” he told him, “and follow me.” 9 So he went out and followed, and he did not know that what the angel did was really happening, but he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 After they passed the first and second guards, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went outside and passed one street, and suddenly the angel left him.

Acts 12:11-16 CSB – When Peter came to himself, he said, “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.” 12 As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark,[a] where many had assembled and were praying. 13 He knocked at the door of the outer gate, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer. 14 She recognized Peter’s voice, and because of her joy, she did not open the gate but ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the outer gate.

15 “You’re out of your mind!” they told her. But she kept insisting that it was true, and they said, “It’s his angel.” 16 Peter, however, kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were amazed.

  1. Pray with desperation

James 5:17 CSB – Elijah was a human being as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the land.

  1. Pray with Confidence in God – Not in Your Prayers

Acts 4:24-27 CSB – When they heard this, they raised their voices together to God and said, “Master, you are the one who made the heaven, the earth, and the sea, and everything in them. 25 You said through the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David your servant:[a]

Why do the Gentiles rage
and the peoples plot futile things?
26 The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers assemble together
against the Lord and against his Messiah.

27 “For, in fact, in this city both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed,

1 John 5:14-15 CSB – This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him.

Matthew 6:7-8 CSB – When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. 8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.

Psalm 5:3 NIV – In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;
    in the morning I lay my requests before you
    and wait expectantly.

Colossians 1:9-10 CSB – For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,[a] 10 so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God,

Psalm 23:1-3a ESV – The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2     He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.[a]
3     He restores my soul.

Psalm 37:4 ESV – Delight yourself in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

  1. Pray balanced prayers

The ACTS Guide

A – Adoration

C – Confession

T – Thanksgiving

S – Supplication

1 John 1:8-9 NIV – If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV – Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

James 4:2b NIV – You do not have because you do not ask God.