Acts 4:23-31 (NRSV)
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Verse 23After they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. Verse 24When 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, Verse 25it 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? Verse 26The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers have gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah.' Verse 27For 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, Verse 28to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. Verse 29And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, Verse 30while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus." Verse 31When 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.
Devotion
He Who Is Coming comes with a touch. It is the touch of the Holy Spirit. The early Christians were an ordinary group of people with an extraordinary calling they would carry out in the midst of hostile powers. It was the touch of the Holy Spirit that, as they say in the Powder Milk Biscuits commercials on radio’s “Prairie Home Companion,” gave them the strength to get up and do what needed to be done.
Prayer
Empowering God, touch us now with your Holy Spirit. Give us your strength to take the good news of your grace and never-failing love to a world in need. Amen.