Moved by God

Acts 4:23 When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 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.

We saw yesterday in chapter 3 that Peter and John were directed by God to heal a lame man in the temple. This drew a lot of attention, giving them opportunity to share with many people more things about Jesus Christ as God's Messiah, Whom they had rejected. Things got quite loud in the temple, leading to the arrest of Peter and John. After an intense interrogation they were told "stop doing that" and sent away. This lead to the report above and to this prayer of praise and commitment. They knew that they were doing what God wanted and asked for courage and boldness to continue to do so. They also knew that God had called them to stick together, leading to a sense of care and community in which generosity and sacrificial love was common, furthering their witness to a watching world. May we emulate such a commitment to prayer, community, and intentionality in sharing the Gospel today.