After Pentecost: The Disciples DeployedSample

 Boldness Through Suffering

The first thing Peter and John did after being released from the Sanhedrin was to return to their fellowship, or local body of believers, and report. No doubt, their friends had been concerned and were anxious to hear what had happened, for Peter and John’s sakes and for their own. After all, it was the first time any of them had been called on to explain themselves, the first time they had gotten the attention of the Jewish authorities, and the first time they had been threatened for advancing the truth of the Gospel without Jesus being present in the flesh. 

When they heard that the Holy Spirit had actually come through as Jesus had promised, the believers were overjoyed. In that moment of celebration, though, rather than congratulating Peter and John, they unanimously and without discussion raised their voices in prayer, praising God for all He had done. They did not have to think about it or remind themselves to do it because they lived in constant awareness of their complete dependence on Him. 

The believers did not ask for a break from the negative attention or protection from persecution, but, acknowledging the fact that Jesus’ suffering itself had been ordained by God, simply asked God to work through them and make them bold in the face of the threats that had been made, a prayer God answered with a huge yes.

The early believers did not suffer from delusions of grandeur, but understood that the miracles that were happening in, through, and around them were the result of Jesus’ faithfulness, nothing more, nothing less. Had they stopped to focus on who they were in and of themselves, what they were trying to accomplish, and whom they were up against, they may have wavered or backed down, but they did not. They took Jesus at His word, put their lives in God’s hands, and trusted Him to finish what He had started, their prayers proving as much. 

What about you? What is your first response when something good happens? What is your first response when something bad happens? How does your response to the circumstances you face compare to the response of the early Church? Which means more to you, self-preservation or the advancement of the Gospel? Do your prayers prove it?