I know it’s been a while since I wrote on Acts. Holidays and babies will do that to you. I will be interspersing family pictures and stories between the Acts stuff.
In Acts 4, Peter and John are detained and questioned by the religious authorities. I guess they didn’t like Peter and John preaching Jesus in the Temple, and telling people that the religious leaders “killed the author of life.” It’s not hard to see why they are upset.
They threaten them, and tell them not to preach Jesus anymore. Peter and John go back to the church, and what follows is one of my favorite biblical prayers. It says that when the church heard the news, “they raised their voices together in prayer to God.” And what follows is a beautiful demonstration of the power available when the church unites in prayer.
What you find is 24-28 is pure praise, a recounting of who God is and what he has done. These words were a declaration of confidence. “We know we come to the right place to ask for help.” It’s amazing how declaring confidence in God can affect us. As we speak them our confidence grows. After declaring their confidence the church prayed a bold prayer.
They did not pray for safety. They did not pray that no one would be harmed. They did not pray for God to iron out the differences between them and the religious leaders. They prayed that God would enable them to speak of Jesus with boldness. They knew the threats. They knew what could and probably would happen. But they wanted to see God’s will to overcome all opposition. They prayed for God to move powerfully not to protect their lives but to expand the Kingdom. And in verse 31, we see God honor that beautiful prayer.
A side note: What does it mean that they were filled with the Holy Spirit? Weren’t they already? I’ll post my opinion in the comments in a couple of days.
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