Monday 17 April 2023

Today is Monday the 17th of April, in the second week of Easter.


Bless the Lord, my soul, who leads me into life. The most important thing for me to do now, as I enter into prayer, is to let go for a moment, to let go of my own concerns, my own worries and fears and reluctance, and let myself be led by God, trusting that God, who loves me, will lead me into life.

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Today’s reading is from the Acts of the Apostles.


Acts 4:23-31

After they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard it, they raised their voices together to God and said, ‘Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them, it is you who said by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant:
“Why did the Gentiles rage,
and the peoples imagine vain things?
The kings of the earth took their stand,
and the rulers have gathered together
against the Lord and against his Messiah.”

For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants 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.’ When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.

In this passage we experience the response of the believers to the challenge of those who continue to oppose the teachings of Jesus. People with power and authority now continue to make threats against them. The believers, who may well be gathered in the same upper room they had occupied in Jerusalem weeks before, listen to their account.


How do you experience the mood of this gathering?

The believers understand that if they continue then they will be at risk of persecution. In earlier times, this may have roused some of them to fear, violence or rebellion. Instead, they recognise just how closely they may have to follow the path of Jesus. Their response is prayer.


There may be times when I have felt criticism, insult or opposition because of my faith. How have I responded? Could I have joined with the believers in this prayer of trust in the Lord?

As I listen to the scripture again, what do I take from the prayer; to see God’s hand even in the challenges of life and faith?

‘Grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness.’ Is this something I need in my life? How might I wish to receive this boldness? As the prayer brings an experience of the Holy Spirit, be open to the Spirit now for all that you need.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.