SCRIPTURE: Acts 4:23-31
OBSERVATION:
Facing persecution, they do not pray for safety but for boldness. They pray based on God’s sovereign place in the universe, and His purpose through history. Their ‘theology’ (view of God) shapes how they deal with this crisis. God answers their prayer with Holy Spirit power and boldness.
APPLICATION:
When I compare my prayers to this prayer, or how I respond to hardship, the difference is obvious. I would pray for protection, I would lament the power of the enemy. Have we lost our confidence in God as God? Would I see more evidence of the Spirit’s power if I prayed more like this?
PRAYER:
Lord, You are in charge. Forgive me for losing my confidence in You. Please make me bold for You, to step forward in faith and not cower in fear. Amen.
After their release, Peter and John went and fellowshipped with fellow believers. Together they they raised their voice in prayer – realizing that persecutions like this will happen. Their prayer asked for boldness to proclaim the Word of the Lord and to continue to do miraculous wonders and signs in the name of Jesus Christ. God enabled them with His Spirit.
Lord, help me also to speak Your Word with boldness. Help me to be a living letter in all I do and say. Fill me with Your Spirit so I may go forward in the strength of my God and not fear the face of man. Help me daily in my walk with You in Your Sonshine.
O Master, let me walk with thee
in lowly paths of service free;
tell me thy secret; help me bear
the strain of toil, the fret of care.