Church and Prison: Who is your "Peter"

Ladies. It's been a minute, but yes—I’m still here! Life has been moving, but God has been faithful, as always.

I was reading in Acts about Peter being thrown into prison by King Herod. (Acts 12 for my Bible readers!) So, there’s Peter, locked up and chained, and what does it say the church was doing? Praying earnestly for him. Not just a quick, “Lord, help Peter,” but truly interceding for him while he was bound and asleep in his chains.

Then an angel shows up, and in the middle of Peter’s sleep, the angel says, “Quick, get up!” And just like that, Peter’s chains fall off. The angel then leads him out of the prison, past every obstacle, until Peter realizes, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me.”

At first, I started thinking about how many times God has rescued me from my own prisons. I was like, “Yes, God! Thank you for walking me out of my mess!” But then He hit me with a little check in my spirit. He reminded me that I’m not just Peter in this story—I’m also called to be the church.

That church was praying earnestly for Peter. They didn’t know when or how God was going to move, but they kept praying anyway. And it made me wonder: how many “Peters” do we have in our lives right now? People who are bound, stuck in their own chains, maybe not even aware of how much they need God’s intervention. And here’s the part that really got me—God is calling us to stand in the gap and pray for them.

We all have our own chains, and God is faithful to break them. But He’s also asking us to be the ones praying for others, for those who are still bound. And here’s the bigger picture: God doesn’t just want to put our pieces back together—He wants to use us to help put others’ pieces back together too.

So, ladies, I challenge you (and myself) today: who is God asking you to pray for? Who is your “Peter”? Let’s not just focus on our own freedom but also on those around us who need someone praying for them when they can’t pray for themselves.

God is working in all of us, through all of us, and it’s such a beautiful thing. Let’s continue to stand in the gap for others, believing that just like Peter, their chains will fall off too.

-Chassitie L.