Threats

Acts 4:29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.

Most people when they face opposition simply want the opposition to be removed. We all like to get our own way! We want our path in front of us in life to be smooth sailing. We don’t want any storms in our path. We want it to rain at night and be sunny every day.

But life isn’t that way, is it. We face difficulties and challenges. Growth comes as a result of our persevering through those challenges. Like learning to ride a bike successfully requires a few falls, the falls teach us valuable lessons that benefit our bike riding and life in general.

The early disciples of Jesus face opposition from the religious leaders in Jerusalem in the weeks following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on those gathered from all over the known world for the Passover celebration. The LORD had shown up and there was no denying it. His power was present and continued to manifest itself through Jesus’ followers.

And after one of these miraculous healings, which everyone could see and attest to, including the leaders, the leaders themselves objected and attempted to prevent the apostles from continuing to proclaim the freedom found in Christ. But they were unsuccessful. It was like holding back Niagara Falls with a tea spoon. Nothing could stop it.

And so after arresting and then releasing two of the leaders of this new Jesus group, these same two leaders, Peter and John, gather for prayer with a larger group of disciples. And they pray.

And they pray that the opposition would cease, right? NO! But isn’t that our first response? But they don’t pray this at all. So what do they pray?

They ask the LORD to pay attention to the threats these people are making against them. I think they want the LORD’s response to match their threats. They want to bring their struggle right into the presence of God, and that is just what they do. And that is what we should do when we face this kind of opposition. Bring the struggle into His presence.

Secondly, they pray for the ability to speak boldly. They don’t want protection per se. They instead want a boldness that matches the opposition. They want to be able to stand and speak the Truth with a power that more than matches the opposition.

They had been enabled to heal the man, and they wanted the LORD to shop up in this kind of way, a way that no one could deny that it was the LORD who had shown up. They wanted a power that would overwhelm the enemy with evidence of His power and long-suffering love.

We aren’t yet faced with this kind of opposition very much in the USA. But when it comes, may this be our prayer. May we be willing to stand in Jesus’ strength and proclaim the Truth we have received. And when we do stand, the LORD will show up with His power to match the weakness of the enemy.