The healing of a crippled man in Acts 3 became a cause of trouble for the fledgling Christian church. The authorities were telling the apostles to stop preaching in the name of Jesus. They did what Christians should always do when trouble comes - they prayed. Here is part of their prayer from Acts 4:29-31: "And now, Lord behold their threatenings and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak the word. By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness."
What really impressed me in this text at this time was not what was prayed, but what was not prayed. They asked for boldness and for God to act with power, but they did not pray, "Keep us safe while we do it." One would think with the threat as immediate as it was that the apostles would have asked to be kept safe. We want to serve and please God, but we don't really want to have to make sacrifices to do it. Frankly, I have to deal with this in my own prayer life and in my own Christian service. Christians all over this world are serving without a "safety net." Last year I heard an international missionary say that "persecution is the norm for most of the world's Christians." To the apostles, boldness in the power of God was enough. I will pray that this will be enough for us. I am convinced that the days are coming when we will have to have boldness without a safety net. It was a powerful prayer because the place was shaken where they were, and they spoke with boldness. They got in some trouble, but they did what God wanted them to do. Let's pray for boldness to speak up for Christ - regardless. This will take some good old New Testament praying. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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