The Only Answer Is Prayer by William McDowell

Author:William McDowell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Prayer—Christianity;REL012080;REL012120;REL012070
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2020-11-03T00:00:00+00:00

3. Boldness

Another benefit of prayer is that prayer releases boldness. A passage from the book of Acts shows us this:

While Peter and John were speaking to the people, they were confronted by the priests, the captain of the Temple guard, and some of the Sadducees. These leaders were very disturbed that Peter and John were teaching the people that through Jesus there is a resurrection of the dead. They arrested them and, since it was already evening, put them in jail until morning. But many of the people who heard their message believed it, so the number of men who believed now totaled about 5,000.

The next day the council of all the rulers and elders and teachers of religious law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, along with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and other relatives of the high priest. They brought in the two disciples and demanded, “By what power, or in whose name, have you done this?”

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of our people, are we being questioned today because we’ve done a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to know how he was healed? Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead. For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”

The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. But since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there among them, there was nothing the council could say.

Acts 4:1–14

Let me emphasize that “the members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see they were ordinary men. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.” Every time I read that, I just love it. You cannot refute fruit.

The members of the council did not know what to do with Peter and John. They could not deny that they had performed a miracle, but they wanted to keep them from evangelizing any further. So they commanded them to never again speak or teach in Jesus’ name. But Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him?” (Acts 4:19). That was boldness!

The council threatened Peter and John further, but they finally let them go because they did not know how to punish the men without starting a riot. Everyone was praising God for the miraculous sign He had done when He healed the man who had been lame for more than forty years.

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