Prayer For Boldness

One of the things God has been showing me through my prayer and meditation lately is that the words of Scripture are not some mere recording of events that took place thousands of years ago; they are words for our times and times to come as well.
I think that on some level, I have always known this, but as I immerse myself more and more in Scripture, I can actually see how this is true.
God being God has seen the whole picture of humanity from the beginning. He can see every age and time. We, being mere creatures, and sinful ones at that, are right in the thick of it; we can not see the whole picture. It is like those wacky crop circles~ you have to be in the air to see them. Well God has the aerial view and we do not.
But every once in awhile, He takes us for a ride so we can at least glimpse that aerial view.
Such was the case as I read a particular passage from Acts in which the growing community of believers pray for boldness.
In this passage these early Christians listen to the Apostles as they have just returned from being questioned by the leaders of the day~questioned, but also warned to stop spreading the Gospel. Upon hearing the reports from Peter and the others, they immediately turn to prayer. The crux of their prayer is that they may be able to speak God's Word with boldness.
Well this stopped me in my prayerful tracks! It is not just those early Christians who needed this grace, we need it as well. The Herods and Pilates of our time have different names and faces, but they still exist. We who believe in Christ as the Anointed of the Father need to also speak His word with boldness.
The end of this passage from Acts says that: "...and when they prayed, the place where they were gathered together was shaken; and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God with boldness."
We need this boldness in the face of all that threatens our faith in these troubled times. We have been given the gifts of the Holy Spirit at Baptism and Confirmation. Let us pray to our Divine Advocate that His gifts may be enlivened in us. Let's shake the world with our bold prayer.

Prayer For Boldness~ from Acts 4:23~31

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 were gathered 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, while thou stretchest out thy hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of thy holy servant Jesus." 

And 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.