Topic: Praying for Boldness
The Book of Acts has a clear theme of “witness.” Witness is the fruit of the Holy Spirit working in the lives of believers. Our key verse for Sunday morning will be Acts 4:31, “And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.”
God’s answer of boldness was in direct response to the prayer request for confidence in verse 29.
The context begins back in Acts 3, Peter and John healed a lame man who was born crippled. This action drew the attention of the crowd. Peter preached the Gospel and urged the Jewish crowd to believe Jesus the Messiah, repent and receive God’s forgiveness. The priests and religious leaders were unhappy that they preached Jesus as the risen Savior and so they locked them up.
The next morning, the Sanhedrin court threatened Peter and John not to speak again in the name of Jesus anymore. After the threats that were leveled at them, this was their response to God—gathered with fellow believers to pray (Acts 4:23-24).
Prayer is not getting God to do what we want; it is getting us to do what God’s wants. We align our heart with God’s will when we pray. Jesus said this is how we should pray: “Your (God’s) kingdom come, Your (God’s) will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt 6:10)
This explains why the disciples were not shaken by fear or anxiety. Their eyes were on God, the One who created all things and spoke that which would come to pass. They prayed for more courage and more miracles because their desire was to keep preaching in the name of Jesus.
Peter said to the Sanhedrin, “For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (4:20) That’s the TRUTH, we cannot hide it nor deny it.
God’s answer for boldness came with the source of boldness, the Holy Spirit. This is the third time the mention of the Holy Spirit brought forth a boldness in preaching God’s Word (Acts 2:4, 4:8, & 4:31).
The book of Acts will demonstrate the purpose of the Holy Spirit in carrying out the will of the Father to call all men to salvation. The purpose comes with a confidence and boldness in conversing with people about the greatness of Jesus.
See you Sunday!
Dr. Scott Kallem