Grant to Your servants
that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to
heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy
Servant Jesus. (Acts 4:29)
In Acts chapter four we find the first prayer the Church prayed
together. Peter and John had been held overnight and put on trial because they
were teaching that the lame man had been healed by the resurrected Jesus. Through
the power of the Holy Spirit, Peter and John very ably defended themselves. In
fact the religious scholars of the day marveled at their boldness. Having been
told to quit teaching about the resurrected Jesus, Peter and John returned to
the Church.
When told what had happened to them the response of the Church
was to pray. I have heard this story many times over the years, but I failed to
pay close attention to the words of the prayer they prayed. I want to point out
a couple of things about this prayer…
“Grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may
speak Your word…”
When told that Peter and John were taken into custody and
put on trial before the highest court in Israel the Church responded by praying
for more boldness to do what they had been told not to do. They wanted courage
to keep preaching about Jesus. I can’t help but feel that this is a prayer that
we should be praying in this day and age. We are living in a world that is increasingly
hostile towards the Church, especially those who see the Bible as a standard to
live by. Now we can sit around and complain about how difficult it is or we can
let ourselves become discouraged because of the opposition. But the Church of
the New Testament decided to pray and ask God for more boldness. I believe Eastside
Assembly of God should be asking God for the same thing…More boldness!
Now the next part of their prayer really interests me because
it sets the course for the rest of the book of Acts and for the Church…they
prayed for boldness and then they told God what He could do to help them gain
the courage they would need.
“by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and
wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”
They told God if He would heal people, work signs and
wonders, then they would have the courage they needed. And one more thing, they
wanted it done in a way that Jesus would get the credit. They wanted healings,
signs, and wonders through Jesus’ name.
Eastsiders this is a prayer for us! This should be our
prayer! “Grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your
word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be
done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” Will you pray this prayer with
me as we enter a new year?
