Today's Daily Bread

A POWERFUL PRAYER

Date : Monday, June 30, 2025
Passage : Acts 4:23~37
Keyverse : 29-30  
23
On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them.
24
When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.
25
You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: "’Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
26
The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one.’
27
Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.
28
They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
29
Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.
30
Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
31
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
32
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.
33
With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all
34
that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales
35
and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
36
Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means "son of encouragement"),
37
sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.
After being released, Peter and John went back to all the believers and reported what happened. The believers knew that this was not merely earthly opposition but a spiritual battle. They raised their voices together in prayer.

Their prayer reveals their faith and shows us how we can pray when spiritual forces try to intimidate us and shut us down. God is sovereign over the heavens, the earth, and the sea. God allowed this opposition against the believers to arise. He already revealed that the authorities in the world rise up and band together to oppose God. The believers saw that Jesus crucifixion only confirmed Psalm 2, all according to God’s will. As they recognized God’s complete control and sovereignty, they did not pray for God to destroy the opposition. They prayed for 1) great boldness to speak God’s word and 2) God to heal and perform signs and wonders in the name of Jesus. How do you respond to spiritual adversity? Will you pray in faith to participate in God’s will, even at a cost?

Filled with the Holy Spirit, the believers continued to speak God’s word boldly. God worked wonders among them, creating a beautiful church in Jesus’ name. No one was needy. God was glorified. Prayer: Father, you are sovereign. Help us to testify to the resurrection of Jesus. Please make our church a sign of your power and love.
One Word: Pray, speak, and love