What do you want God to do in
your own life—in the life of your family—in the life of your church—in the
world? So often from the prayers we
pray—not really too much.
Acts 4:23-31
I hear so many anemic prayers in
God’s church—“God bless us.” And we
wonder why our lives, our families, and our churches are not changed much!
But that is not what we find in
prayers in the Bible—as here in Acts.
What’s going on here? Peter and
John heal a man who was crippled for 40 years (Acts 3).
They are then arrested for
causing problems due to their preaching and teaching about Jesus. They are told by the Council not to continue
to preach and teach in Jesus name. They
say, “You decide whether we should listen to you or to God about this
matter. We cannot stop doing this.”
The council threatens them again
and releases them. They go to where
other believers are gathered and that is where we pick up the text. What do they pray with the others gathered?
1)
They praise God.
2)
They remind God of
those who oppose His work.
3)
They pray for a
boldness to continue preaching and teaching in His name.
4)
They ask for God to
continue to heal and perform miracles in Jesus name.
What do we often do when trials
and hardships come? We pray for God to
remove the threat to us—but do we ever pray for boldness in sharing the
message, even among hardships and trials?
Have you ever done that?
Interesting to note that the
council called Peter and John “uneducated, ignorant men.” And they were amazed that these men could
have the boldness and knowledge that they had for who they were. But the council also said, “They had been
with Jesus.” Now that could mean just
that they traveled with Jesus.
But it also could mean that they
were “changed”—“transformed” by being with Jesus. And I believe that’s what it would mean for
you and me if we took seriously “being with Jesus” on a consistent, regular
basis. But that doesn’t come through
“God bless us” prayers.
Be specific in what you ask
God—ask God to save people you want to be saved. Pray for them to overcome sins that beset
them way too often. Pray for God to
overcome barriers in people’s lives to faith and obedience. Pray for the church to have more boldness—in
fact don’t pray that. Pray by name for
each member to have more boldness in teaching and living the Word of God.
Do you see any difference there
between that and “bless everybody and heal everybody”?
James Bond movies years ago—when
he got drinks (and I’m not advocating drinking alcoholic drinks)—but he always
asked for them “shaken not stirred.”
That’s what a church needs—to be
“shaken not stirred.” So often we are
stirred by a good sermon or good point in a sermon. But we are just stirred—never shaken to the
point that we change our ways based on what we heard. We heard a man—we did not hear from God—or at
least, we did not act on what we heard from God.
Notice in v. 31, what happened
after they prayed a bold prayer to God—was He pleased? He confirmed He would answer their prayer by
“shaking the place.”
And what also happened was that
they were then “filled with the Holy Spirit.”
God showed up—God showed His approval—God answered their prayer—God
brought His confirmation of His power in their lives again—the filling of the
H.S.
One baptism of the H.S.—many
fillings. Saved—baptized in H.S. When weak—when have sinned—need His filling
again. Filling implies His control over
us again—and it implies the power of God active in our life again. You don’t get more of God’s Spirit—he gets
more of YOU!
The church needs to be shaken
not stirred. And the church needs the
filling of the H.S. again. That provides
the needed boldness to live for God—share Him with others—pray bolder
prayer—empower us for service that we need.
Some one here said to me one
time, “We are a church of introverts.”
True—so what is needed more than maybe other places is God’s
filling—shaking—God’s empowerment for boldness to go on despite being
introverted.
When God shook the
place—confirming His agreement with their request—and when He filled them with
the H.S.—they then “spoke the Word with boldness” God answered their prayer.
What do you need in your life
most? What does the church need in order
to grow and be what God wants us to be?
Boldness and filling with the Holy Spirit.
And how does that happen? Part of the answer is through praying for
boldness and praying for God’s filling.
For God’s filling to occur, we
need to confess our sins and ask God to control our life again.
Will you begin to pray for
yourself and others—will you pray for boldness and His filling?
Are you shaken today—or just
stirred?
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