When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, ‘Peter is at the door!’ ‘You’re out of your mind,’ they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, ‘It must be his angel.’ (Acts 12:14-15)
Have you ever prayed and trusted God for something for so long that after a while you started to wonder if it would ever come? I think we have all been there. Scripture captures this feeling perfectly when it says “Hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Proverbs 13:12).
Abraham and Sarah lived in that reality for years. Imagine holding on to a promise while your own body flaunted its impossibility in your face. Every day waking up to the likelihood of it happening being 0%. Yet, Scripture says of Abraham: ‘and not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief but was strengthened in faith giving glory to God and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.‘ (Romans 4:19-21).
Many have hoped for so long and prayed even longer that their prayers now lack expectation. Instead, their prayers have become routine, just another box to check. They are still praying but deep down they no longer have the faith and courage to expect an answer. Can you blame them?
Nonetheless, I still respect people who fall into this category for their ability to persist in prayer despite how they feel. I admire the courage of the church that interceded for Peter’s release. They were likely running low on faith yet they continued praying.
For some, what they are believing God for seems so impossible that their prayers feel more like an obligation than an act of faith. They pray not necessarily because they are convinced God will do it but because they feel they should pray. After all, what other choice do they have?
But there is a fine, almost invisible line between doubt and unwavering trust, a trust that is not moved by whether or not God answers a prayer. It is the difference between merely going through the motions and the kind of faith that declares, “Whether He does it or not, I will still serve Him.”
It is that thin but defining line between the unshaken faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as they stood before the fiery furnace and the church that was earnestly praying for Peter’s release only to be shocked when their prayers were actually answered.
That line is doubt. And even the most prayerful people can fall into it.
The church in Acts 12 had been praying for Peter’s release for some time. I imagine they had grown tired, weary, and maybe even started to lose hope that he would actually come out.
Perhaps this was not one of those situations where a person was arrested, questioned, and then released. Maybe there was a quiet fear lingering among them that Peter was about to meet the same fate as James, the brother of John, whom Herod had already put to death. This was a loss that if it happened would shake them to their core. This wasn’t just any random man, it was Peter…
And now with Peter’s trial set for the next day, they were probably running low on faith, still praying but not quite expecting.
They were so low on expectation that when Peter finally showed up at their doorstep they could not even believe it. Even after the servant girl, Rhoda, excitedly insisted that it was really Peter standing at the door, they dismissed her. They were so certain it could not be him that they said she was out of her mind and if anything, it was probably his ghost!
When God Speaks, It Is So: A Little Personal Story
I love sharing little personal stories because I believe they help drive home key discussions.
After I lost my first pregnancy in 2019, the wait to conceive again felt like an eternity. In fact, by every medical standard, my chances of conceiving were almost nonexistent. But in His mercy, God sparked a kind of faith in my heart, the kind I hope you will catch on to by the time you are done reading this.
The kind of faith that believes to the very last second.
The kind of faith that hopes against hope.
Scripture says of Abraham: ‘Against all odds, he still chose to hope believing in hope so that he might become the father of many nations, just as it had been spoken to him: ‘So shall your seed be.’” (Romans 4:18).
Now back to my little story. The prognosis concerning my ability to conceive anytime soon was terrible. I had gotten into the habit of praying but not quite expecting at least, not expecting on God’s terms.
Then in August 2019, my mother in law took me along to the RCCG Holy Ghost Congress a decision I will forever be grateful for.
I sat there, lost in the crowd, barely able to follow the program. But I stayed. And just as the sermon was rounding off, Baba Adeboye began making prophetic declarations, one of which was that some people there would return for the next August Holy Ghost Congress with their children.
Oh dear Lord! I screamed AMEN so loudly that I nearly deafened my own ears. I truly believed that word.
Month after month, as I remained without conception, I still held on believing against all odds. Even when it seemed impossible, even when there were barely nine months left before August 2020, I said to myself, “Even if I have to carry the pregnancy for less than nine months, I will not stop believing.”
Well the rest, as they say, is history. I went into labor on the very last day of August 2020 and gave birth to my first child on September 1, 2020.
This is what it means to hope against hope to believe even when every odd is stacked against you.
Against All Odds, Though It Tarry, Wait for it, Because It Will Surely Come
Remember the story in 2 Kings 6–7, when famine ravaged Samaria so severely that people resorted to eating donkey heads and even their own children just to survive?
Anyone living in that reality could never have imagined that by the very next day, there would be such an overflow of abundance that what once, for example, sold for ₦50,000 per kongo would now be going for ₦50 per kongo.
But that is exactly what happened overnight!. God gave the word, and it was so, just as the prophet had declared. His word never fails.
Habakkuk 2:3 says For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”
Come to a place where you truly believe that nothing is impossible for God. Has God given you a word for a particular situation? Or are you holding on in faith, yet the answer seems to be taking far longer than your heart can bear? Stagger not.
If He has spoken, He will fulfill His word.
Even if, for example, you were convinced that this was the year God said you would marry, and now there is only one day left before the year ends, His word will not fail.
If it has to happen on that very last day, so be it. With God, nothing is truly impossible.
Just maybe, the one thing that is missing is your expectation as you pray.
You are praying, but are you truly expecting?
Are you fully convinced that God will do what He has promised?.
Scripture says: “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1:6-7)
Faith is not just about praying; it is about believing, standing firm on God’s word, unwavering, just as Abraham did when he hoped against hope. You must add to your prayers belief, hope, and expectation.
That’s the posture that pleases God. That’s the faith that moves mountains.
