The Prayer of a Witness (Acts 4:23–31)

This is Acts chapter 4, verses 23 through 31:

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.

Well, the next several episodes of our Acts Bible Study will focus on the troubles and triumphs of the early church, and there is so much there to learn that gives encouragement. I love the stories of the early church that God has lovingly preserved for us. This particular passage is the church's response to the growing opposition and persecution that they were experiencing, and it becomes a sort of textbook for us of how to pray when trouble comes our way. I love the fact that the instinct of the early church leaders was to pray in the face of that persecution.

Now, we know that prayer is hard work. Prayer can be discouraging. Often, we pray expecting immediate answers. It's sort of like when we were gardening, when our children were young, and I had them come out and put the seeds in the row, and we covered them up with dirt, and we watered it. And my daughter came out the next morning and looked at the garden and said, “Dad, it didn't work,” because she was expecting immediate fruit. Sometimes we do that with prayer.

Sometimes our prayer is just perfunctory; it’s just spiritual habit, and we don't really think about what we are doing. And so, this passage is really helpful for us because it really does give us a pattern for prayer. I said this already, but I am going to say it again, “I love that their first instinct was to pray.” It was not to strategize. It was not to panic. It was not to seek legal help, but to pray because there was a recognition that they were dealing with things that were beyond their ability and power.

The first thing you notice about the prayer, it was rooted in remembering the creatorship, the ownership, and the sovereignty of God. Everything that was going on was under his rulership, in his world that he owned.

Next thing I think is really helpful; they rooted their prayer in Scripture. One of the ways to keep from praying selfishly or unbiblically or unwisely is just to quote Scripture back to your Lord, to pray out of his Word, to remember the things that he has promised as you pray. Throughout the prayer, they are recognizing that everything they are experiencing is happening under God's rule; it's not like things were out of control. They were out of their control, but they are remembering, as they are praying, that they are under divine control, and that way of prayer is a comfort and an encouragement.

It is really interesting that the next thing you notice is they did not ask for relief, but for the ability to continue to do what God had called for them to do. They wanted power; they wanted ability; they wanted the courage to continue more than they wanted just relief from their difficulty.

Then they prayed that God would unleash his almighty power and do what they would not be able to do, to do in them and through them what they could not do for themselves; so they would have the courage, they would have the wisdom, they would have the strength to deal with what was going on around them. And the passage reminds us that God met them and answered them, giving them boldness to continue to speak.

So how to pray? Remember who you are. Remember who God is. Remember what you have been given. Quote Scripture as you pray. Rest in God's presence and power. Pray for grace and then get up and continue what God has called for you to do!

Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion

1. When life takes an unexpected turn or sudden suffering enters your door, what is your first instinct? Is prayer a part of your first instinct? Why or why not?

2. In what ways has prayer been difficult for you in the past? How has it been discouraging for you? Why do you think there can be such discouragement around prayer for you? Were you expecting immediate fruit to come from your prayers? Why do you think God allows the element of time to be such a vital part of your experience with prayer and its fruit?

3. If you had to take inventory of your most recent prayer times, what would you say those prayer times have been rooted in? What elements of your prayer times might God want you to alter or completely change as you look at prayer through the lens of this passage?

4. In what ways are you currently praying for God to unleash his almighty power to do in your life what you cannot do? If you aren’t praying that way, how can you start today in ways that highlight God’s ability and strength in the midst of your neediness and weakness?

Conversation Prompts to Use with Children

For Younger Children:

• When you think about it, what is prayer really? Why do you think prayer matters to God? Why do you think prayer should matter to Christians? Why should prayer matter to you and me?
• What do you usually pray for? What do you think God wants us to pray for? If he already knows what we need (because he’s God), what’s the point of praying at all?
• Why do Christians need prayer more than we think we do? How can you and I pray for each other right now?

For Older Children:

• When you think about the content of your prayers recently, what are you normally praying about? What do you think God wants us to pray for as his children?
• If God already knows everything that we need (because he’s God), why do you think any of us need to pray at all?
• Do you think that Christians need prayer? Why or why not?
• How can I help you with prayer, and how can we start praying together more often?