Be Bold, Pray Bold

 

Acts 4:23-31

The Church Prays

As soon as they were released from custody, Peter and John went to the other believers and explained all that had happened with the high priest and the elders. When the believers heard their report, they raised their voices in unity and prayed, “Lord Yahweh, you are the Lord of all! You created the universe—the earth, the sky, the sea, and everything that is in them. And you spoke by the Holy Spirit through your servant David, our forefather, saying:

‘How dare the nations plan a rebellion,

    ranting and raging against the Lord Most High?

    Their foolish plots are futile!

 Look at how the kings of the earth take their stand,

    with the rulers scheming and conspiring together

    against God and his anointed Messiah!’

“In fact, Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with Jews and non-Jews, met together to take their stand against your holy servant, Jesus the Messiah. They did to him all that your purpose and will had determined, according to the destiny you had marked out for him. So now, Lord, listen to their threats to harm us. Empower us, as your servants, to speak the word of God freely and courageously. Stretch out your hand of power through us to heal, and to move in signs and wonders by the name of your holy Son, Jesus!”

At that moment the earth shook beneath them, causing the building they were in to tremble. Each one of them was filled with the Holy Spirit, and they proclaimed the word of God with unrestrained boldness.

I have just listened to a sermon on this, delivered by Alastair Begg, found on the Truth for Life app (which I highly recommend if you prefer a voice from the UK rather than the US). 

It occurs to me that often we pray for protection, freedom from persecution, comfort, basically a nice life! Is that why the church has become soft in so many ways? If we take the example of these early disciples who had just been released from prison, we should be praying for more boldness to preach the word of God - and hang the consequences!

I have to challenge myself to repeat their prayer, and encourage you to do the same:

"Empower us, as your servants, to speak the word of God freely and courageously. Stretch out your hand of power through us to heal, and to move in signs and wonders by the name of your holy Son, Jesus!”

Then can we expect the room to shake as the Holy Spirit at last has the freedom to fill us and work with us to proclaim the word of God with unrestrained boldness?