Pray Your Heart Out Series

IMPRISONMENT OF CHRISTIANS IN CHINA is on the upswing. One report says there has been a drastic increase of assaults on Christians over the last year. That’s China, but that’s not the only place it’s happening. You can probably guess the other countries that are among the most hazardous for Christians. If you’re thinking North Korea, Iran, and Somalia, you’re right. And that’s just a start. Put Nigeria and Cameroon on your list. And there are many, many more.

Meanwhile, here in the West, secular militants seek to discredit, neutralize, and marginalize the church and its witness. Janet Folger in her book, The Criminalization of Christianity, documents how people in New York have been fired from their jobs, kids in California have been suspended from school, pastors in Sweden have been sentenced to prison—and their crimes involve nothing more than exercising their religious freedoms.

Powerful forces are at work to contest the reign of God. But it’s nothing new. The Book of Acts records how Peter and John, way back in the First Century, healed a beggar at the gate of the temple. And the next thing they knew, they were being detained by the authorities, and they wound up spending the night in jail. The next day, when they were brought before the magistrates, they were ordered “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:18). Not “at all!” Even when they were released, they could still hear the threats ringing in their ears.

But they knew what we know. And what we know is that, no matter what the opposition and no matter how fierce it may, God will extend His reign—His kingdom—and He will do it through our witness to the name of Jesus. And while there is no doubt that He will expand His sovereign rule, He nevertheless calls on us to pray for it. Isn’t that what Jesus tells us to do the Lord’s Prayer? Doesn’t He teach us to say, “Thy kingdom come”?

And here in Acts 4, we see three ways we can pray that God’s kingdom will come, that His reign will increase. We do it by turning to one another for prayer, by turning to God in prayer, and by turning to the world with prayer. Let’s see how it works.

I. BY TURNING TO ONE ANOTHER FOR PRAYER (Acts 4:23)

“When they were released, they went to their friends and reported

what the chief priests and elders had said to them.”

First, we turn to one another for prayer. Look at verse 23. There we read, “When they were released”—that is, when Peter and John were free to go—“they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and elders had said to them.”

And that’s what we need to do. In the face of opposition to our faith and our witness, we need to come together and ask for prayer. God has put us together in the church so that we may support and encourage one another, and one of the ways we do that is through praying with and for each other. And we should never be hesitant to ask others for prayer.

II. BY TURNING TO GOD IN PRAYER (Acts 4:24-30)

“And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God…” (v. 24).

So, one way we pray for the advance of God’s kingdom is by turning to one another for prayer. Another way, of course, is by turning to God in prayer. That’s what we see Peter and John’s “friends” doing when they hear about what these two men have been through. Verse 24 says, “And when they heard it, they lifted up their voices together to God.” In other words, they turned to God in prayer. And what did they say? Right here in Acts 4, we have the transcript of their prayer. And what that means is that we have a template for our own prayers. What are we to do in prayer?

1. In Prayer We Acknowledge the Greatness of God (v. 24)

“Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them…”

Well, the first thing they did was to extol God. The rest of verse 24 gives us the very words they prayed. They said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them.” Now, if we follow their lead—and why wouldn’t we?—we see that in prayer we acknowledge the greatness of God.

2. In Prayer We Assess the Gravity of Our Circumstance (vv. 25-28)

“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 people of Israel…” (v. 27).

If we read further, we also see that, in prayer, we assess the gravity of our circumstance. As these early Christians prayed, they exposed the forceful opposition to God’s reign. And look at how they did that. They started by citing Scripture. If you look at verses 25 and 26, you’ll see that they recalled the words of Psalm 2, which says, “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”—that is, against His Christ.