Read Acts 4:23-31
Key Verse: “And now, Lord, consider their threats, and grant that your servants may speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand for healing, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” (Acts 4:29-30 CSB)
Peter and John had managed to survive the last 24 hours. The whole ordeal started when God used them to heal a man who had been lame from birth. The religious leaders responded with hostility and opposition and threw Peter and John into jail overnight. The following day, they warned the apostles to stop speaking about Jesus, threatening them with further punishment if they did. Then they let them go.
Put yourself in the shoes of Peter and John. What would you do next? Where would you go? I don’t know about you, but my first inclination would be to get out of Jerusalem as soon as possible. When someone is threatening you, you likely aren’t looking to stick around for what comes next.
Yet that is not how Peter and John responded. Instead of taking off and getting out of Jerusalem when they were threatened, they gathered together and prayed with their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ
What did they pray for? It wasn’t for protection from the threats and persecution from the religious leaders. It wasn’t for God to rain fire down from heaven on their opponents. It was for more boldness and courage to speak of Jesus even in the face of opposition. Their prayer was this: “Lord, consider their threats, and grant that your servants may speak your word with all boldness” (v.29). There was no shrinking back!
How was this possible? One of the reasons the apostles were able to pray for more boldness even while they faced opposition is because they trusted in the sovereignty of God. They were praying to the “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them” (v.24). They were entrusting themselves to the One who would do whatever His hand and His plan “had predestined to take place” (v.28). Whatever the threatening circumstances that faced them, they trusted that God had it all under control.
Furthermore, their prayer for boldness was rooted in their commitment to the mission ahead of their own comfort. Their own ease and well-being was not their first priority. They knew that to be men and women devoted to the mission of Jesus Christ would require them to deny themselves and be willing to suffer just as Christ had done for them.
What are you praying for today? Is it for God to make things easier or more comfortable in your life? Or are you asking the Sovereign God to grant you more courage to speak of Jesus regardless of what comes your way? Put boldness on the top of your prayer list today.
Prayer: Jesus, I know that following you will not be easy. Help me to not make my personal comfort my top priority. Instead, give me the courage to live for and speak of you, no matter what I may have to face. I commit myself into your hand again today. Amen.
Author: Jonathan Miller has served in pastoral roles for more than 13 years in churches in Barrie, Oakville and Burlington, Ontario. He currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Prison Fellowship Canada, a ministry that mobilizes and equips local churches to engage in the restorative work of prisoners, ex-prisoners, their families, and victims across Canada. Jon holds degrees from McMaster University and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He and his wife Adrienne have been married since 2004, and live in Burlington, Ontario with their 4 children. Jon’s greatest passion is to know Jesus and to see lives transformed by Him and for Him.
