When they were released they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, "Sovereign Lord, who didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who by the mouth of our father David, thy servant, didst say by the Holy Spirit, 'Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine vain things? The kings of the earth set themselves in array, and the rulers gather together, against the Lord and against his Anointed' -- for truly in this city there were gathered together against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever thy hand and thy plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats, and grant to thy servants to speak thy word with all boldness, and while you stretch out your hand to heal, signs and wonders are performed through the name of thy holy servant Jesus." And so they prayed, and the place where they gathered together was shaken; and all were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.
In a Nutshell
Those following Jesus were knit together in strong bonds of love and faith. They developed as a praying community who addressed the Almighty on an intimate basis.
Questions
Think about the way God knits us together as friends. Think how that friendship is formed by the way He brings us together to be our God.
Here Luke tells us with great sensitivity how the Holy Spirit worked with the apostles. He was with them when they had to speak publicly before the Sanhedrin. They found they had the words and the confidence they needed. The Holy Spirit had made them bold and the Sanhedrin saw it. It gave these religious leaders cause to pause.
When the apostles were released they discovered another
dimension of the Holy Spirit's work in their lives. Luke is careful to tell us
about that, lest we form the impression that the Holy Spirit is given solely to
confront the powerful. That's not right. Look at the love He had been busy
nurturing between the apostles and all the disciples! Luke says it plainly.
"They went to their friends". That is indeed what Jesus had called
them. That was what they were to each other. This was no formal business
meeting. This was a joyful gathering of Jesus' disciples who had found that
their lives were now being knit together in ways they had scarcely imagined
previously.
And what prayer resulted? They were
living in the face of enormous spiritual opposition. They called upon their
Creator, the One who sent "Great King David's greater Son". They sang
David's Psalms with new understanding. And now they prayed together. The Spirit
was busy, prodding and provoking the entire body of apostles, so that they would
continue to encourage one another. Notice how Luke has told us about the
boldness of the apostles. The Sanhedrin had seen it in Peter and John. Now
together they are earnest in prayer: "Give us Your servants the boldness
we need to do what You call us to do." The prayer was answered. God's
Spirit emboldened them. As Luke tells it the prayer had already been answered.