Seeking the Sovereign One...

Acts 4:24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,

“‘Why did the Gentiles rage,
    and the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth set themselves,
    and the rulers were gathered together,
    against the Lord and against his Anointed’—

27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

For the National Day of Prayer yesterday we used as our base the words of Daniel, spoken from the land of Exile, as he sought the return and restoration of Israel.  He was praying from a place far from home in a land hostile to the true and living God.  These Jewish Christians were in their homeland, but still in reality under the hand of a pagan emperor.  Besides that, they were being persecuted for their faith by the very ones who should have embraced it first.  They turned to the same place as Daniel had: The One Who is sovereign over all nations and leaders. Like Daniel they prayed the promises of God's Word, and committed themselves to follow God no matter what.  The result of their prayer was an empowerment from God to continue to live and share their faith. That is what we need to do and see.  Like Daniel and those early Christians, we need to continue to call out to God not just one day a year, but continually, trusting in Him and waiting on Him to see what wonderful things our Sovereign Lord will do.