When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!” (Acts 12:12-14)

Would you please take a couple of minutes to read Acts 12:1-18 so you can see these verses in context?

Can’t you just visualize the disbelief of the prayer group at Mary’s house when Rhoda told them that Peter was at the door?

“That’s impossible! Peter is supposed to be in prison, not in our house. We, the Prayer Group, we’re here at Mary’s house. We’re praying for Peter, who is in prison. He can’t be at the door of our house where we are praying for him! It must be his angel!”

Earlier on in v. 5 we read that “the church was earnestly praying to God for him.” What were they praying for?

Since James had already been beheaded and Peter was to face trial the next day, did they assume that Peter would also meet the same fate? Did they pray that he would find peace? Or did they actually pray for his release?

We don’t know for sure. But, we do know that they were not prepared to see the answer to their prayer standing at the door of the house where they were praying.

I was reminded of two promises found in the Old Testament when I read these verses:

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes.” (Amos 9:13)

The Message Translation puts it this way: “Things are going to happen so fast your head will swim, one thing fast on the heels of the other. You won’t be able to keep up.”

In other words, expect answers to your prayer to come really, really fast…way faster than you are conditioned to expect.

And expect them to come in ways that you wouldn’t expect at all.

My hunch is that the church believed for Peter’s release following his trial. There was no way they could conceive of the trial being pre-empted by his release. Amen?

Here is the other promise: “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.” (Isaiah 65:24)

When we started the 12:12:12 Fast 10 days ago, we stated that one of the purposes of the fast was “To press in for fulfilment of promises and prophetic words” that had not yet come to pass.

On Day 10, this incident in the life of the early church gives us reason to believe that our prayers can also be answered by God at an accelerated pace.

Could you expect this to happen before the end of this year?

Perhaps you have faith to believe that the answers would come even before we wind up the fast in two more days.

Does today’s passage inspire you to really stretch out your faith and “see” that the answer to your prayer is actually knocking at the door?

I am quite confident that right now God is orchestrating testimonies that will remind us of Acts 12:12 in the lives of those who subscribe to Destiny Word of the Day. Could it be you?

In Jesus’ name I declare to you that your breakthrough—in faith, health, missions, relationships, church issues, property matters, career, finances—is not being held up anymore. The angel of the Lord has broken off all limitations.

And the Answer to Your Prayer is at Your Door. Praise God!