IT is related in the Acts of the Apostles that when Peter was cast into prison "prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him." An angel of the Lord delivered him out of prison; and when he came to the home of Mary, who was the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered praying, "they were astonished." Did they not expect Peter's deliverance? Their astonishment would indicate that they were praying without expectation of their prayers being answered in so direct a manner.
Do not we, as Christian Scientists, sometimes do this very thing? Is our affirmation of Truth—which is true prayer—frequently attended with doubt, or at least with small expectation of immediate liberation through this knowing of the truth?
As Peter had seemed to be securely imprisoned, so do we seem to be bound by material sense, in bondage to sin, disease, or some other form of materiality. Our only real means of liberation is through the power of Truth, and an understanding of the truth is capable of establishing our freedom. In truth we are already free, since the man of God's creating has never been in bondage to material sense, for this does not exist in the infinitude of Truth. We need, however, to establish this fact in human consciousness and experience, and this is done by continuing to declare the truth, until it is clearly realized and demonstrated.
