BRUCE C WEARNE writes of how, in Acts 4, Peter and John and other believers joined their voices together in praying for boldness in their witness...
Upon their release, they returned to their own, giving a report of chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard (all about) it, they, with one accord, together raised their voices to God saying, “Sovereign Lord, You who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them! These are but the words that came from the mouth of our forefather David, your child, speaking by the Holy Spirit: Why are the Gentiles raging, and the peoples hatching such stupid plots? The kings of the earth have set themselves up in pomp, and the rulers gather in assembly, to turn against the Lord and against the one he has Anointed’ – for indeed in this city there were gathered in their assembly against Jesus, your holy servant Jesus, whom you have anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and Israel’s peoples, ready to do whatever your hand and your plan had already known would happen. And now, Lord, look upon their threats, and grant all boldness to your servants to speak your word, and meanwhile stretch out your hand to heal, grant signs and wonders to be done through the name of your holy child Jesus.” And that is how they prayed, and the place where they came together was shaken; they were all filled with the Holy Spirit to boldly proclaim God’s word. (Acts 4:23-31/transliteration by Bruce C Wearne)
IN A NUTSHELLThose following Jesus were knit together in bonds of love and bold faith. They developed as a praying community addressing their Father in Heaven on an intimate basis as His children. |
Here Luke tells us with great sensitivity how the Holy Spirit worked with the apostles. He was with them when they had to speak publicly before the Sanhedrin. They found they had the words and the confidence they needed. The Holy Spirit had made them bold with the Sanhedrin granted a glimpse of their hope. It gave these religious leaders cause to pause.
When the apostles were released they discovered another dimension of the Holy Spirit’s work in their lives. Luke is careful to tell us about that, lest we form the impression that the Holy Spirit is given solely to confront the powerful. That’s not right. Look at the love He had been busy nurturing between the apostles (the “sent-out ones”) and all the other disciples! Luke says it plainly. “They went to their friends”. That is indeed what Jesus had called them. That was what they were to each other. This was no formal business meeting. This was a joyful gathering of Jesus’ disciples who had found that their lives were now being knit together in ways they had scarcely imagined previously.
And what prayer resulted? They were living in the face of enormous spiritual opposition. They called upon their Creator, the One who sent “Great King David’s greater Son”. They sang David’s psalms with new understanding. And now they prayed together. The Spirit was busy, prodding and provoking the entire body of apostles and disciples, so that they would continue to encourage one another. Notice how Luke has told us about the boldness of the apostles. The Sanhedrin had seen it in Peter and John. Now together they are earnest in prayer: “Give us, Your servants, the boldness we need to do what You call us to do.” The prayer was answered. God’s Spirit emboldened them. As Luke tells it the prayer had already been answered.
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