Isn’t prayer amazing?
Acts 4:23-31
23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:
“ ‘Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers band together
against the Lord
and against his anointed one.’27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
This is an inspiring passage. It reminds me that I usually underestimate the power of prayer. Instead of backing down when authorities told Peter and John to stop preaching about Jesus, they went back to their team and spoke about all that God did while they were in jail.
The team’s response was to start praying for God to help them speak about Jesus with better words and more boldness. They reminded themselves that everything was happening just as spoken about in the Old Testament. They asked God to work signs and wonders through them and to give them boldness and the words to say to bring Jesus to more people. God’s response to that prayer was a sign that He had heard them and then a demonstration that He had acted on their prayers.
They were not brought low by what happened to Peter and John. They were inspired and their first action was to turn to God and ask for His help.
We also need to react like this when things don’t go how we planned – we need to remember what God has promised and we need to turn to Him in prayer to ask for His help in everything.
Dear Lord, thank you that your word is trustworthy and that you are listening to our prayers. Help us to remember to pray – to bring all of our concerns before you. Help us to remember your promises and that you can be trusted. Help us to work as part of your team bringing your love to all those around us. Amen
Written by Therese Manning