Day 1094 · Year 3 · The Great Tradition
Knox on speaking truth in a hostile place
A Scottish reformer would not flinch.
Today's passage
Acts 4:29-31
29And now, Lord, consider their threats, and enable Your servants to speak Your word with complete boldness,
30as You stretch out Your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.”
31After they had prayed, their meeting place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Berean Standard Bible · public domain
Reflection
John Knox famously prayed, in effect, 'Give me Scotland or I die.' The earliest church prayed the same way after being threatened: 'Grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.' Notice they did not ask for the threats to stop. They asked for courage to keep speaking. If you find yourself in a hostile place — at work, in your family, online — the prayer of Acts 4 is still the right one. Ask not for the hostility to vanish, but for courage to be faithful in it.
From the great tradition · paraphrased
John Knox · Reformers · 16th c. · Scotland
John Knox preached in a politically dangerous time with the conviction that a believer's boldness is a borrowed boldness — granted by the Spirit in response to honest, urgent prayer.
Paraphrase only. Scripture, not any teacher, is the authority.
Think it through
- What did the early church ask for in response to threats?
- What happened after they prayed?
- Where are you tempted to ask for the hostility to stop instead of the courage to be faithful?
A prayer to pray
Pray the prayer of Acts 4:29 in your own words. Ask the Spirit for boldness in the specific place that intimidates you.