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Dear Bros in Christ,

Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.

Brothers in Christ, this monthly email is sent and meant to be an encouragement to all and to build up
and edify in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oikodome means "Builder". The Lord has put this on my heart to
send out a monthly Iron Man Oikodome {oy-kod-om-ay'} to build up and encourage the men who love
and follow Jesus Christ in their walk with Him.

Romans 14:19 Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which
one may edify another.
Hebrews 3:13 "But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of
you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness."

AUGUST 2006
God shows us the Power of Prayer and Power of Pride

Peter Freed from Prison


Acts 12:5-115 Peter was therefore kept in prison, but *constant prayer was offered to God for
him by the church. 6 And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping,
bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the
prison. 7 Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he
struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, "Arise quickly!" And his chains fell off his hands.
8 Then the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and tie on your sandals"; and so he did. And he said to
him, "Put on your garment and follow me." 9 So he went out and followed him, and did not know
that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 When they were
past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which
opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately
the angel departed from him.
11 And when Peter had come to himself, he said, "Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent
His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish
people."
Power of Prayer
Two things to notice in these verses, the first is there is power in prayer. Verse 5 * constant prayer was
offered up to God for him by the church. The bros were offering up constant prayer to God for Peter.
So many times, we have the absolute best and least used weapon as Christians. Prayer is a powerful
tool for bringing down strongholds.
“The fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much”- James 5:16

We have many opportunities as believers to pray for our bros, yet many times, we leave that powerful
weapon to be used by someone else or not to be used at all. How many times have you told someone I
will pray for you bro only to forget about it the second you leave that brother or maybe you might pray
right then and then never again for this brother. It appears clear that constant prayer avails much as we
look at Peter’s situation, it was the only thing the church could do and the best thing they could do and
the only thing that they needed to do. They took it to heart and took to their knees to be before the Lord
for Peter. They did not talk endlessly about Peter’s situation, but prayed endlessly for God to intervene,
it is that simple and yet sometimes we can make it so complicated. Let us take note bros and take to
our knees to wage the battle and give it to God our Creator our deliverer for His perfect plan.
Second, I noticed Peter said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has
delivered me from the hand of Herod…” Many times God sends His deliverers to us and it could an
Angel or maybe He sends us someone in our lives could be a friend, a bro or family member to help us
and encourage us at any given moment or for a season. It might be that God uses different ways to help
us and encourage us. Who would ever think God would use an Angel to break Peter out of jail… Many
times God has used various methods to speak to me, although mostly through His Word. I remember
one time something was troubling me for a quite a long time almost a year and I kept praying for an
answer and for God to show me what He wanted me to learn. One day there it was the answer on the
back of a car license plate frame on the 405 freeway at the Y- someone had put a scripture reference on
their license frame. I remember I saw it and knew that God was going to speak to me. I pulled over on
the shoulder of the road and looked it up. Bros God blew me away, it was exactly what I was asking
God for and He showed me that day on the freeway. Another time I had been praying, searching, and
asking and really, if it was the Lords Will that He reveal something to me- this went on for five years. I
actually let it go and left it up to God if He wanted me to know. I woke up at 5 AM one morning and a
light bulb went off in my head and immediately God revealed the answer to me through a scripture
verse He gave me in the twinkling of an eye- that quick and once again I was blown away that God
gave me the answer right there on my bed before my feet had touched the floor.
I mean for all I know and all you know He could have had one of His angels driving that car in front of
me so I would see and get that scripture. In addition, for all I know His angel could have turned the
light bulb on in mind that morning at five AM…
We can know for certain, that God will send us His help when call on Him.

Herod's Violent Death


Acts 12:20-2320 Now Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; but they
came to him with one accord, and having made Blastus the king's personal aide their friend, they
asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food by the king's country.
21 So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to
them. 22 And the people kept shouting, "The voice of a god and not of a man!" 23 Then immediately
an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms
and died.

Power of Pride

Now that Peter has been delivered from prison, broke free by the power of prayer. We see Herod is
soaking up the praise that should be for our mighty God. Herod was so filled with himself that he
surely thought he deserved to be addressed in this manner, can you see him all puffed up. You know
the way men are when they suck their stomachs in and hold their head high and throw their shoulders
back and gloat in themselves. The kind of man that can make you sick by looking towards him, the
kind of man that thinks they are something when they are not. They elevate themselves at every
opportunity, wallowing in their pride, displaying all their wealth and all the power of their position in
life. Then they think they are equal to or above God. Then God brings them down, He says in His
Word--

18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.19 Better to be of a humble

spirit with the lowly, Than to divide the spoil with the proud. Proverbs 16:18-19.
God will not divide His spoil or praise that should be for Him alone and Him only, He is not going
to share that with the proud and arrogant Herod. One thing we can know and learn from pride is it is
deadly.
Let’s look at James 4:6 6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble."
God resists the proud always has and always will we are His creation. But He gives grace to the
humble, even more grace. We know Gods Grace means “Unmerited Favor”, but do we think on the
meaning when we read this scripture “He gives grace to the humble” or Gods unmerited favor to the
humble… Oh, that we would desire to be humble and walk in His unmerited favor.

May His grace be the work in each of us today,


Daniel Wright
Iron Man Oikodome
Proverbs 27:17

If you have events at your church coming up that are open for all men and will
build up and encourage men in their walk with Christ please forward the event
information, time date, etc. and we will post them on the Iron Man Oikodome
website.
In addition, if you have prayer requests we will send out email prayer requests to
the men in a discreet manner that respects your privacy if you so desire and
glorifies the Lord. The main thing is to lift up your needs and bring them before
our Father. That would be an honor and a privilege.

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you!

To add a friend to the Iron Man Oikodome monthly devotional simply forward their email
address to this link ironmanoikodome@earthlink.net

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