Just as Jesus was a praying teacher, the first church was a praying church. After their arrest and confrontation with the Sanhedrin, Peter and John returned to the gathering of believers and replayed the whole event, including the demand that they stop speaking in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:18). The people immediately “raised their voices together in prayer to God” (v. 24). This would be a good time for you to grab your Bible and read Acts 4:23-31.
One thing that has always stood out to me about the prayers in the Bible is they were unlike my own. My prayers tend to be whiny and ramble on and on. The prayers of God’s people were almost always God-centered, concise, and simple. Let’s look at this prayer. First, they laid a strong foundation declaring God’s sovereignty, power, and authority (vs. 24-25). Only then did they present their request to God (v. 25b-27). They remembered that men have plotted against God for generations – this current dilemma was nothing new to Him. They declared that God’s power and purpose overrode the enemy’s scheming. “They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen” (v. 28).
Then they laid the matter before the Lord and got read to get back to the work God had given them. “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness” (v. 29). They put the battle – and their enemies – in God’s hands and carried on with the divine mission. They asked for boldness to continue doing what got them in trouble in the first place. That ought to be a lesson for us in this evil generation.
Then something remarkable happened. “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” (v. 31). Why are our churches not being shaken (up)? Why are we not speaking the word of God boldly today? I believe it is because we are praying in fear, not in faith. I’m guilty. I find that I’m praying more about what can go wrong than what God can do right. And too often I’m praying that life will get easier, not that I will get bolder. It’s no wonder the Spirit isn’t shaking me up.
It is right and good to present our problems and struggles to the Lord in prayer. But then we need to ask for the power and boldness to continue in our divine calling. Beloved, it’s time to stop shaking in fear and start shaking in the Spirit.
Deeper Roots 