In Acts 4 Peter and John get arrested, imprisoned and questioned by the Sanhedrin following the healing of the lame man in chapter 3. After their release they went back and reported to the believers what had happened:
When they heard this, they raised their voices together in praise to God.
4.24
R. Albert Mohler:
Once the assembled believers heard about all that had happened to Peter and John, they did what many would not—they prayed. Regrettably, for many of us, prayer is not our reflexive response to good news. But the early church prayed without ceasing; it was a reflex to almost any circumstance. Luke notes that they “lifted their voices together to God” (v 24). This type of faithful response from the early church ought to embolden us to go to God in prayer in every conceivable circumstance. Prayer is a gift from our heavenly Father. Prayer should be the Christian’s natural first reaction to the testimony of God’s power or a problem in God’s world.
One startling feature of this prayer is that the believers never asked God to spare them from further confrontation or suffering. Rather, they prayed that they would be granted boldness to “speak [God’s] word with all boldness” (Acts 4:29), as the Lord continued to work powerfully through and around them (v 30). In other words, they were praying, Lord, in the face of opposition, don’t let us weaken. Don’t let us compromise. Please keep working out your purposes, and please keep us working for your purposes. These Christians recognized their weakness and valued the success of the gospel far above their own physical comfort.
Of course, it is not wrong to pray against suffering and persecution. But we should never fear opposition to the extent that we prioritize our personal security above the mission of spreading the gospel. Fear is often a dangerous weapon which the world wields against the church. God’s people face threats every day, particularly in nations that do not protect religious liberty, or that even actively oppose it. But as we pray for protection, we must also ask God, as the early church did, to give us the strength needed to endure the dangers that come with faithful gospel ministry. Our mission matters more than our safety.
Jesus told his followers that the world would hate them. Often, we seem surprised when the world despises us—we are taken aback that Jesus was telling the truth! Jesus explicitly told his disciples that danger was coming their way, but that they were not to lose heart. Christ overcame the world. Therefore, when persecution knocks on your door, pray for boldness in proclaiming the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing what we face, but also the King who sustains us, we should pray that the Lord would get us into the right kind of trouble.
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