Thursday, October 22, 2020
Some material taken from Finding Boldness Through Prayer by Van Houser
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, 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? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, 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, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness… Acts 4:24-28
Sovereign God
When we pray, it is important that we recognize - or remind ourselves of - the sovereignty of God. Peter and John and their friends understood this important step as noted in the verses above. The first words to God were not of their requests, but of His glory and power.
They first recognized God as Sovereign Lord. The word for "Lord" in this verge is "despot" - One who rules with absolute authority. They spoke of different examples of God’s sovereignty from the past and in the creation of all things. And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, "O Lord, it is You who MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM… v.24
We say we trust God but does our prayer life really reflect that? If we believe God is who He says He is, we can believe He is perfectly over everything in our world.
The sovereignty of God can be seen in His control of all things – "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, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur. vs.27-28 Even those in opposition to God are seen as being in His control. God is in charge!
Once you acknowledge God’s handiwork in creation, what stops you from recognizing His hand in the world today? The world is bigger than our nation and what is happening in the interactions of the world is God’s bigger plan for mankind. God has used persecution, godless rulers, small children and donkeys to do His bidding. He is in control today!
Sometimes we have to remind ourselves of the sovereignty of God and how He has answered our prayers and been faithful to us in the past. We know these things, but in the midst of crises, we tend to forget. We have to remind ourselves that if He can create the world, He can handle our problems. When we are scared or anxious, we need to speak it out loud. We need to declare with our mouth the praises He deserves and, because of His sovereignty, we can leave our worries in His more than capable hands. Because, even though He is sovereign God, mighty and powerful creator of this world, He loves us and cares about us and everything that worries us. He wants us to come to Him, to trust Him, and give Him every burden that weighs us down. We can do that with faith because we know He is sovereign.
