...pray always...

“23 After they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 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, 25 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?

26 The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers have gathered together         against the Lord and against his Messiah.’

27 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, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.’ 31 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”    Acts 4:23-31.

There is something really important for us to notice and to follow in this story: Immediately following a very difficult time in their lives, the disciples and their friends “raised their voices together to God” (v.24) and asked God “to grant to your servants to speak Your Word with all boldness…and when they prayed…they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (vv. 29 & 31).

Consider all the times you and I have gone through difficult times in life, and when it was finally resolved, we forgot to give thanks to God. Dear friends, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, may we all remember to turn to God and pray. May we all pray for one another to keep on praying, because without prayer, we are left just to mull over the details and pain in our own thoughts.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.