It’s been a tough few months. The days have been populated with “troubles” that need to be addressed. I have felt a bit wimpy lately! That probably means I have paid more attention to the “troubles” than I have to the LORD. When I woke this morning, I knew what I needed, what I had been lacking, I need my Bible and prayer and praise.
When my prayer and praise life is interrupted by life in general, I feel spiritually weak. There is no power in my life when there is no praise and prayer.
In Acts 4, when Peter and John left the presence of the rulers and went back to their own people, they reported what had happened and all that the chief priest and elders had said to them. After the people of God listened to the account, they immediately raised their voices together and began to praise, and then they began to pray.
“Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them.” They praised God for who He is and what He had done. [4:23-26]
Then they prayed, “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.” [4:27-30]
As soon as they were done, “the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” [4:31]
PRAISE plus PRAYER equals POWER. It was so in Peter’s and John’s day, it is so in ours.
