Herod’s death is one of those Bible stories that the little boys in Sunday school love to talk about. A greedy, self-consumed king who attacked the followers of Jesus got eaten by worms. Worms, of all things. Can you imagine? But if we just chalk this story up to being gross and weird, we’re missing the point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Acts, we see how the followers of Jesus endured persecution and hatred from the world, just as Jesus said. In chapter 12, Herod imprisoned Peter, intending to kill him, simply because he saw it pleased the Jewish people (Acts 12:3). Yet despite Herod’s evil intentions, God\u2019s plans prevailed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the word of God spread and multiplied. Herod\u2019s earthly power and influence were nothing compared to the powerful prayers of God\u2019s people (v.5). We see this when, despite being kept under heavy watch, Peter was suddenly rescued by an angel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rhoda, a servant, was so amazed to hear Peter\u2019s voice at the gate of the house where the church was gathering that she could barely even think of doing the next thing! So she ran into the house, where everyone else told her she was out of her mind. But she knew what she heard. Meanwhile, everyone else had to see to believe (v.16).<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this story we see different responses to the work of God. Rhoda, a lowly servant, gave witness to a miracle. Herod, a royal king, was consumed with his reputation and power and struck dead for not giving glory to God. He wanted all the glory for himself and was willing to do whatever it took to get it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe the Lord wants to remind us through this passage that glory and honor look different in the kingdom. Here on earth, those who work hard and know the right people often get an honored place and position. In the kingdom of God, position and power do not equal glory. I don’t know about you, but that’s a reminder I need again and again and again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lord, make us willing vessels today, not for our good, but for Your glory. Help us to focus more on what You’re doing than receiving places of honor. Remind us that You have not called us to be impressive; You\u2019ve called us to be available as witnesses to Your work. May Your Word and Your truth flourish and multiply through us. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Herod’s death is one of those Bible stories that the little boys in Sunday school love to talk about. A greedy, self-consumed king who attacked the followers of Jesus got eaten by worms. Worms, of all things. Can you imagine? But if we just chalk this story up to being gross and weird, we’re missing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":72919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[308],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acts26"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[73104],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"PETER RESCUED BY AN ANGEL<\/b> Herod's death is one of those Bible stories that the little boys in Sunday school love to talk about. A greedy, self-consumed king who attacked the followers of Jesus got eaten by worms. Worms, of all things. Can you imagine? But if we just chalk this story up to being gross and weird, we're missing the point.<\/p> In Acts, we see how the followers of Jesus endured persecution and hatred from the world, just as Jesus said. In chapter 12, Herod imprisoned Peter, intending to kill him, simply because he saw it pleased the Jewish people (Acts 12:3). Yet despite Herod's evil intentions, God\u2019s plans prevailed.<\/p> But the word of God spread and multiplied. Herod\u2019s earthly power and influence were nothing compared to the powerful prayers of God\u2019s people (v.5). We see this when, despite being kept under heavy watch, Peter was suddenly rescued by an angel.<\/p> Rhoda, a servant, was so amazed to hear Peter\u2019s voice at the gate of the house where the church was gathering that she could barely even think of doing the next thing! So she ran into the house, where everyone else told her she was out of her mind. But she knew what she heard. Meanwhile, everyone else had to see to believe (v.16).<\/p> In this story we see different responses to the work of God. Rhoda, a lowly servant, gave witness to a miracle. Herod, a royal king, was consumed with his reputation and power and struck dead for not giving glory to God. He wanted all the glory for himself and was willing to do whatever it took to get it.<\/p> Maybe the Lord wants to remind us through this passage that glory and honor look different in the kingdom. Here on earth, those who work hard and know the right people often get an honored place and position. In the kingdom of God, position and power do not equal glory. I don't know about you, but that's a reminder I need again and again and again.<\/p> Lord, make us willing vessels today, not for our good, but for Your glory. Help us to focus more on what You're doing than receiving places of honor. Remind us that You have not called us to be impressive; You\u2019ve called us to be available as witnesses to Your work. May Your Word and Your truth flourish and multiply through us. Amen.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"18","scripture":"Acts 12:1-25, Daniel 3:28-30, Ephesians 6:19-20","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u2014Acts 12:24<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\r\nby Abby Flynn<\/i>
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\u2014Acts 12:24<\/em><\/p>
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