Acts 4:23-31. When Peter and John are released by the Jewish leaders they return to the other apostles and friends of Jesus and report what that they have been imprisoned for a night, questioned, and ordered not to preach in Jesus' name nor teach His teachings. On hearing this, they all lift up their voices in prayer. They praise God as sovereign Lord, Creator of all, and then quote David as inspired by the Holy Spirit: "Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples imagine vain things?" The kings and rulers of the earth set themselves in array against the Lord and His anointed. They then connect David's words to their plight. Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel have set themselves against Jesus "to do whatever thy hand and thy plan had predestined to take place." So they ask God to look upon the threats of the leaders and grant them, the apostles and disciples, the ability to speak God's 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." After they prayed this prayer, "the place where they were gathered was shaken; and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness."

When I read these words, I felt filled with the Holy Spirit and much emboldened! I woke up this morning feeling empowered - like I had a job to do and I am very willing and able to do it, but I'm just not sure what it is yet! (Haha!) I thought maybe this was just a "New Year" feeling, but I have not felt this way before. Then I read this and it spoke to my soul. This is the perfect prayer for me right now, in fact, for all of Jesus' followers who are feeling the threat of persecution, or even actual persecution.

The powers of our times have arrayed themselves against the Lord, that is quite obvious. I believe, truly, that it is the devil himself who is doing this, and individual people, including many of our leaders, and even some of our priests, are being captured through weakness, or vanity, or attachments, or pride, or fear, or any other of our human failings, by this "spirit of the age" which is opposed to God and His creation, but uses His words of love and protection to manipulate us into the most destructive of behaviors. Those who can see this happening know that we are being called to fight it, but how? That, I think, is the feeling I had this morning. I think this year may show me more clearly my true path.

In the meantime, I am going to copy this prayer of the apostles and pray it. This prayer embodies living in the Divine Will. The apostles accepted that all the evil that happens, even Jesus' crucifixion, is part of the Divine Plan. I must realize, we all must, that all the evil that is happening in our world right now is also part of the Divine Plan, and we must pray to be able to speak God's word with all boldness, trusting that He will protect us and empower us in order to save His people.