Praying at Mary’s House

by Edwin Crozier

Herod decided to take action against the growing church by whittling away at the leadership. Interestingly, he first killed James, the brother of John. When that pleased the Jews, he arrested Peter. As Peter was kept in prison, “earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church” (Acts 12:5 ESV).

We don’t know precisely what they prayed for. Perhaps they prayed for Peter’s deliverance. Perhaps they prayed for Peter’s faithfulness. After all, recall what happened a few years earlier when Peter had declared he was willing to die for Jesus. His spirit was willing, but his flesh was weak. Instead of dying for the Lord, he denied the Lord…three times. The Christians may have been praying for a strong flesh in the face of this spiritual battle. It certainly seems they weren’t praying for him to be miraculously delivered in the middle of the night. When he was miraculously delivered, they didn’t believe it at first.

But what I really want us to notice is that when Peter was miraculously delivered, he went to Mary’s house. Have you ever asked why? Why did he go to Mary’s house in the middle of the night? It was not because he lived there. It was not because he planned to spend the night there. In Acts 12:17, he departed and went elsewhere.

Obviously, my next assertion is a bit speculative. But I think it is an education and warranted speculation. Why did Peter go to Mary’s house? Seemingly, he expected to find exactly what was going on there. He expected to find Christians gathered to whom he could report this good news. It seems to me this must not have been the first time Mary had gathered Christians together to pray into the night in her home.

What an incredible example Mary sets for us. Are there issues so important in our churches today that we ought to gather in homes to simply pray about them? Are there lost people in our community that warrant such praying? Are there people struggling in our churches that warrant such praying? Are there relational struggles among church members? Are there members facing huge temptations at work, home, school, or from circumstances?

We often have home Bible studies. Many Christians will gather for singings. What about hosting prayer meetings? That doesn’t have to mean a solid two hours of one person praying straight through. Perhaps give prayer assignments to multiple people. Let them each pray for a particular issue or a particular aspect of the issue at hand. Sprinkle songs in. Add appropriate Scripture readings. Or set aside time for people to chime in to the ongoing prayer as they feel led. Perhaps spend part of the time with everyone in their own silent prayers. Perhaps the gathering can be broken into smaller groups, all praying at the same time in various locations in the house. Be creative with it.

When we think of congregations devoted to prayer, we often think of congregational prayer time and individual prayer. Mary sets a great example of praying from house to house. Let’s follow her example.