Grace and Peace

Posted on October 31, 2025 by Stephen Nielsen

1 Peter 1:2

2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

Here in verse two, Peter introduces these alien recipients as people who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. This means that God predetermined their salvation; and He did it by the sanctifying work of His Spirit, by which He made them holy (justified and righteous by His blood). But in addition to their justification, they were chosen to daily obey Jesus Christ by faith (Rom. 1:5), and also, to obtain a daily cleaning from sin, which Peter calls here to be “sprinkled with His blood.” This daily cleansing may be accomplished by a regular confession of sins, with the promise of His forgiveness and cleansing (1 Jn. 1:9), and by our understanding, in our faith, that the Lord automatically and continually forgives and cleanses His own (1 Jn. 1:7).

And so, according to what God has declare to us, we may have, and are welcome to have, a full measure of God’s grace and peace.

Prayers for Peter, Released from Prison

Posted on October 27, 2025 by Stephen Nielsen

Acts 12:1-17

Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. 2 And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword. 3 When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread. 4 When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people. 5 So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.

6 On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. 7 And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And his chains fell off his hands. 8 And the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” 9 And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. 11 When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.” 12 And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. 13 When he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. 15 They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she kept insisting that it was so. They kept saying, “It is his angel.” 16 But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed. 17 But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison.

Here is the dramatic story of how Peter was released from prison by an angel of the Lord. I will make only two comments. God knew how useful Peter was to Him so He could not allow him to be imprisoned for long. Secondly, I think Peter’s release had much to do with those who were praying for him (v. 12). God heard their prayers.

Peter Gives a Message to Cornelius

Posted on October 21, 2025 by Stephen Nielsen

Acts 10:17-23

Now while Peter was greatly perplexed in mind as to what the vision which he had seen might be, behold, the men who had been sent by Cornelius, having asked directions for Simon’s house, appeared at the gate; 18 and calling out, they were asking whether Simon, who was also called Peter, was staying there. 19 While Peter was reflecting on the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. 20 “But get up, go downstairs and accompany them without misgivings, for I have sent them Myself.” 21 Peter went down to the men and said, “Behold, I am the one you are looking for; what is the reason for which you have come?” 22 They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man well spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews, was divinely directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and hear a message from you.” 23 So he invited them in and gave them lodging.

Here, Peter was given a message that three men were looking for him. And he, being full of the Holy Spirit, went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are looking for.” I suppose we all wish that the Holy Spirit would speak so clearly to us.

When Peter was told who Cornelius was and that he was to go to him and give him a message, I wonder if he had any idea what he was to say. I think he was just beginning to put it all together—to form what God was telling him through his trance. We will see.

Jesus Prayed while the Disciples Slept

Posted on September 12, 2025 by Stephen Nielsen

Matthew 26:36-41

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. 38 Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.”

39 And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” 40 And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? 41 “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Jesus and His disciples came to the garden of Gethsemane. And when they arrived Jesus felt the need to pray; so He took with Him Peter, James and John and went a little further to pray, leaving the others. Then He felt an even deeper need to pray and went on by Himself. Hence, as it seems, there were three groups: the main group of disciples (minus the three), a little further there was Peter James and John, then further, only Jesus. All three groups were to be praying.

Notice that Jesus trusted Peter (and also James and John) to pray more than the others. But they turned out not to be trustworthy. They fell asleep. Notice also that in Mark’s gospel Jesus called Peter Simon. This I think was an indication that Jesus was frustrated with him—that he was not living up to his chosen name (Peter, the rock). But regardless of Jesus’ displeasure in His disciples, He continued to encourage them to keep watching and praying.

The gospel of Luke only recorded how an angel appeared to Him to strengthened Him. It may occur to you (as it does to me) what He needed strength for, and how could an angel help Him. Well, I don’t think angels have any difficulty with temptation; I think they are always strong and incapable of sin. They may not even understand it. Their mission is to help and encourage people with whatever they can do according to the will of God. I think what they did for Jesus was just to encourage Him to keep praying. And He did pray very fervently and was sweating drops of blood.

Jesus Got Up Early To Pray

Posted on July 15, 2025 by Stephen Nielsen

This passage always reminds me of times I have been on camp outs and retreats. Usually, everyone sleeps in, and hardly anyone that I have found goes out in the wild to pray–like Jesus did.

Mark 1:35-39 (also Lu.4:42-44)

35 In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there. 36 Simon and his companions searched for Him; 37 they found Him, and said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.” 38 He said to them, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.”

After Peter’s mother-in-law was healed “the whole city” came to see Jesus, and He healed many. Apparently, Jesus slept there in Peter’s home that night. Here in the text, we see that Jesus got up early to pray in a secluded place. And Peter gathered a search party of his companions to look for Him; it seems that Peter was the leader of this group (and he was the natural leader everywhere he went). And when they found him they were surprised saying, “Everyone is looking for you.” They were probably wondering why he got up so early to go to this secluded place. What was He doing? They didn’t understand the concept of prayer—of having an early morning quiet time. But here they got a first-hand knowledge of Jesus’ prayer habits. Soon Peter and his companions would learn more about a prayer life.