Monday, September 6, 2021
And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 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.
Acts 4:29-31
The Hardest Thing To Ask For
How many times do we ask God to fix our circumstances? How many times do we ask him to save us from hard things that we have to walk through? Sometimes the “through” part is a very long way through. We often spend our whole way through lamenting and asking for God to change it or take it away - and this is a very human response to trials. God understands and has patience for us. However, we may prolong our way through by spending all our time lamenting instead of learning and experiencing what God has for us during that time.
Peter and John’s example in Acts chapter 4 is one we should apply to our own lives. When they were released from jail, they asked for boldness to keep doing the very thing that got them thrown in jail. They asked for boldness because they knew it was what God wanted them to do. They knew that they had the Holy Spirit to help them to be bold in sharing the Gospel. They didn’t pray to not be found. They didn’t pray to not be arrested again. They didn’t pray for safety. They didn’t pray for God to strike down those who were against them. They prayed for strength to face what God had for them, and boldness to keep proclaiming the gospel. When is the last time you prayed for strength and boldness to face what was staring you in the face. When have you prayed for strength to keep going instead of asking God to wave a magic wand and take it all away?
Thank Him
Not only should we be asking for strength to walk through and face whatever we are in the middle of, we also should be saying thank you. Yes - thank you. We should be thanking God for this experience that He is allowing because He has a reason for it. There is something He wants us to get out of this and we will be better on the other side of it. We may not feel better for a long time, but we can find peace in knowing that He is in control and in His strength and power we can do anything.
We want so badly, to believe that God wants us to be happy, and He does, but not more than He wants us to be obedient. We are blindsided by every trial that comes our way, but God is not. He has known every single detail of our lives since before we were born. He loves us and wants us to be fulfilled and satisfied in Him. He wants us to be obedient even in the hard things, and He wants us to call on Him and trust Him.
It is not easy to ask for God to give us strength to keep going when we just want to stop. It goes against our human nature, but not our Christian nature. Instead of asking God to change your circumstances, ask Him what He wants you to learn from them.
