Daily Devotional For Wednesday, November 11, 2026
Good morning Southside! I am following the One Year Chronological Bible reading suggestion and any Bible verses you see highlighted in bold (ex. John 3:16), means it is a link to that verse. All you have to do is click on the reference and it will take you to the verse online. Our daily devotional for today comes from Acts 12:1-5:
“About that time King Herod Agrippa* began to persecute some believers in the church. (2) He had the apostle James (John’s brother) killed with a sword. (3) When Herod saw how much this pleased the Jewish people, he also arrested Peter. This took place during the Passover celebration. (4) Then he imprisoned him, placing him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring Peter out for public trial after the Passover. (5) But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him” (NLT).
To understand the persecution and martyrdom of the disciples in this passage, we have to understand Herod who was the source of them. King Herod’s father, Aristobulus, had been murdered by his own father, Herod the Great. The same Herod the Great who had ordered the slaughter of innocent babies at Christ’s birth. After the death of Aristobulus, the Herod of Acts 12 was sent to Rome to be educated, and there he grew up with a close friend of the imperial family. He was initially a playboy in 23 AD he fled to Palestine to escape his creditors. In Palestine he lived a life of humility and poverty under his uncle, Herod Antipas.
Herod was eventually taken back to Rome where he was imprisoned by the Emperor Tiberius for some of his critical remarks against the emperor. He hit rock bottom and when Tiberius died, Herod’s childhood friend Caligula, became emperor. He freed Herod from prison and gave him a gold chain and the power to rule over some Palestinian provinces. When Caligula died, another childhood friend, Claudius became emperor. He made Herod ruler of Judea and Samaria. Herod was a true politician. When in Rome, he acted like a Roman. Being Jewish, around the Jews, he acted like a Jew. He would do anything to keep his popularity among the Jews.
Being convinced by the Jewish leaders that Christians were divisive and would be a problem for Rome, he turned on them with persecution. The Bible says that Herod had James martyred with a sword. According to a Jewish manuscript called The Mishnah, “the sword was to be used for murderers and apostates” (Source: The Mishnah, “Sanhedrin,” Vol. 9, p. 1).
This ingratiated him with the Jews and the Jewish leaders. Now with James, the brother of the Apostle John, martyr, he threw Peter into prison. To me this had to be challenging for John because in Scripture they are always mentioned together, “James and John, the sons of thunder (Mark 3:17).” These are the same James and John, the apostolic buccaneers, who asked to sit on Jesus’ right and left (Mark 10:35-37). With James dead and Peter in prison, I imagine the early church felt they were powerless to do anything.
So, the early church turned to God in prayer. The word translated as “earnestly” is the Greek New Testament word [τενῶς; ektenōs]. It is often translated as “constantly, “ but the word itself literally means “to strain, to stretch.” It refers to fervent prayer. It refers to praying with agony. If someone you knew was about to be executed for being Christian, you would pray to God fervently also. The Jews thought the early church was foolish to pray, thinking they were impotent to do anything about it.
Reflection Assignment: When life takes a dark turn in your life, do you go to the Lord immediately and pray earnestly and fervently, agonizing over it before Him? God honored their fervent prayers in Acts 12:6-19, which those praying did not believe at first. When is the last time you have prayed fervently to the Lord about anything?
Scripture To Meditate On: Luke 22:44, “Jesus prayed more fervently, and He was in such agony of spirit that His sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Lord, if I am honest, most of my prayers have no fervency or agonizing sweat to them. Many times, You are my last resort, not my first response. I want to pray like You did in the Garden of Gethsemane. I want to pray like the early church. Please help me to take both my prayer life and how I pray more seriously. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly