Peter and John return for prayer with the other believers.
Click here for an online Bible. Acts 4:23-31
This is one of my favorite passages. Peter and John returned to the gathered Christians after their release. They reported everything that had happened. Luke specifically tells us that they reported all that the chief priests and elder had said. So what did they say? They said to quit preaching about Jesus. They made threats. The threat is to quit talking about Jesus or end up like Jesus.
The response of the people was to pray. They praised God and proclaimed His power and control. They acknowledged that everything that had happened was according to God’s plan.
Don’t miss verses 29 and 30. They made note of the threats that the chief priests had made. Then they prayed that God would enable them to speak boldly perform miracles and healings. Wait a minute! It was preaching and healing that got them into trouble. Now, they are praying that they can continue to do that which got them arrested and threatened with more.
Imagine if we were in that situation. We would be praying for God to protect us from the mean priests. We would pray for the chief priests to have a change of heart. We would pray for all future healings to occur well away from the chief priests. Their prayer was for boldness in the face of the threats.
Notice the result. They place where they were praying was shaken. Why don’t we see prayer meetings like that? Because we don’t pray like that. They valued the spread of the gospel more than their own lives.
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1 comment:
Boy... it does make me think. I probably would have prayed for protection from those mean priests or for them to have a change of heart too.
Boldness. It certainly shows that we first need to change our mindset on what or how we pray. I didn't think I had prayer mode "in the box" thinking, but maybe I do.
Let's shake up the place together!
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