Acts 12:5

"But prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God" The adverb "fervently" implies both intensity and continuity. This term has been previously used of Jesus' intense agony in Gethsemane (Luke 22:44). "Here we have two communities, the world and the church, arrayed against one another, each wielding an appropriate weapon. On the one side was the authority of Herod, the power of the sword and the security of the prison. On the other side, the church turned to prayer, which is the only power which the powerless possess" (Stott pp. 208-209). Notice that the church will be astonished when God answered! (Acts 12:15) "Nevertheless the spiritual power which prayer unleashed was more than. match for Herod" (Kent p. 102).