Journey Through The Bible
     Old Testament Reading: Exodus 16-18
     New Testament Reading: Acts 4

When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God boldly (Acts 4:31).

After their healing of the lame man and preaching to the people that gathered, Peter and John were arrested and thrown into prison. After sternly threatening the apostles, the leaders granted their release. The first thing Peter and John did upon their release was to gather with other Christians and pray.

Here in Acts chapter four, is one of the greatest prayers recorded in the Bible. Only a few times in scripture is it recorded that God shook the place where His people prayed. When He does, we should take notice of the prayer leading to it. We can learn a great deal about the power of prayer not only from what they prayed that day but also from what they did NOT pray for.

To begin, it was a prayer that was born out of witnessing and service for the Lord. They met to pray to defeat the adversary of their ministry. It was a united prayer meeting as they raised their voices together to God (v24a). Division in the church always hinders our prayers and robs the church of spiritual power.

They did not begin their prayer with the typical “Our Heavenly Father”, they simply addressed God as Master. They came to God with the attitude that they were God’s obedient servants, and He was truly their Lord and Master. True prayer is not telling God what we want to be done but asking God to do His will in and through us. It means getting God’s will done on earth, not man’s will done in heaven.

They approached God full of confidence in His power that made the heaven, the earth, and the sea, and everything in them (v24b). They prayed, knowing God was in control and He had the power and authority to do miraculous works.

Their prayer was based solidly on scripture, in this case, Psalm 2. The word of God and prayer must always agree. The early believers applied the message of this Psalm to their own situation and identified their adversaries as Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel (v27).