Acts 4:23-37
23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:
“ ‘Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers band together
against the Lord
and against his anointed one.’ b
27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
31 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.
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet. [1]
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What strikes me in this passage is how, in His answer to the believers prayer, the Spirit shows that the way the believers treat each other is very much part of the mission. Our love for each other is a witness of the love of Jesus.
(Also note how the believers’ prayer flows from meditating on Scripture, in this case Psalm 2. This is the pattern that I seek to follow with these Abide devotions: Meditate on Scripture, and pray out of what God says in His Word.)
The believers responded to the threat of persecution by turning to Scripture and then praying. They prayed not for protection from persecution, but rather for boldness in witness, and for the Lord to display His power in signs and wonders. Immediately the place was shaken as confirmation that the Spirit will answer.
But look at the answer. Yes they spoke with boldness, but the bulk of what is described next is about how they cared for each other and provided for each other. Luke clearly attributes this to the grace of God being powerfully at work in them. This is a big part of the answer to their prayer.
As believers, we are citizens of the new heavens and the new earth. We are called to live out of that citizenship. Therefore, as much as God’s grace enables, our lives should look like they will be in eternity. There will be no sin in eternity, therefore we strive not to sin. There will be no want or need or poverty in eternity; therefore we share what we have to eliminate poverty among us now. There will be no sickness; so we pray for God’s miraculous healing now.
And by doing this, the community of God’s people, the church, is to become a picture of what God is intending to do for all humanity. Our love for each other, our provision for each other becomes a witness of the gospel.
And that’s why the Spirit answered in the way He did. They prayed for boldness, and along with boldness, the Spirit gave them love.
So my prayer is that of the believers in this passage. I pray for the boldness in my witness and in all of our witnessing – boldness in our words, but also boldness in our love for each other.
What is the Word leading you to pray about today?
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[1] The New International Version. 2011 (Ac 4:23–37). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
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