Marked by Him (Acts 4:13)

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
– Acts 4:13

Oh, there is so much in this one verse describing Peter and John that I want to encourage you with today.

Acts 4:13 shows us how God uses ordinary people.

First, see how Peter and John are described. These people that we might look back at as titans of the faith, like leaders of the church, Peter and John, these disciples. But that’s not how they were perceived in their day. They were perceived as uneducated, common men, just ordinary people. So whenever you are tempted to think, “Well, I’m not this person or that person, I don’t have the ability to have the impact that those people have”. Realize no, God’s design is to use ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

So don’t believe the lie from the adversary who says, “Well, you’re just an ordinary person. What can you really do?” In God’s economy, ordinary people do extraordinary things, but not because of their own power, or their own strength, or their own ingenuity, or their own anything. The whole point is at the end of this verse, “and people recognize they had been with Jesus”.

The key to being an instrument in God’s hands for extraordinary purposes is being with Jesus. Starting your day with Jesus, being with Jesus, walking with Jesus all day long, ending your day being with Jesus. Make this the primary aim of your life today: to be with Jesus, to walk with Jesus, and let His life become your life. This is Galatians 2:20. “I’ve been crucified with Christ. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, and the life I live today in the flesh I live by faith in Him who loved me and gave Himself for me”.

Acts 4:13 shows us how God’s presence gives His people extraordinary courage.

And that’s what leads to the boldness that we see in Peter and John here. Remember that Peter, when left to himself, totally denied Jesus. But now, with the power of Jesus in him, the power of the Holy Spirit in him, walking with Jesus, here he was boldly proclaiming the gospel. That’s not because of Peter. That’s because of the power of Jesus in Peter, and the same Holy Spirit is in you today.

So God, we pray that You would use our ordinary lives today in extraordinary ways. Help us, we pray, to live in the power of Your Holy Spirit in us. God, we pray that the primary aim of our lives today, the most important thing in our lives today, would simply be being with You, walking with You, listening to Your Word, praying continually. Help us, oh God, to prioritize being with You and living out of the overflow of Your life in us.

And God, we do pray that You would give us boldness in our faith. Give us boldness with the gospel that doesn’t come from ourselves, that comes from You in us. We pray for boldness to share the gospel with people around us, to speak Your Word just as the disciples later prayed in Acts 4. We pray for this kind of boldness in our lives today.

Prayer for the Dhund People

And God, we pray for boldness for our brothers and sisters around the world. We pray today for the Dhund people of Pakistan, for 794,000 of them who have little to no knowledge of the gospel, knowing that there is so much persecution and challenges to the spread of the gospel in Pakistan. Please God, I think about brothers and sisters I know there.

Please bless them, bless our brothers and sisters in Pakistan. Raise up other brothers and sisters to come alongside them, that the gospel might boldly spread through ordinary men and women across Pakistan, that the Dhund people and other people groups like them would be reached with the good news of Your love for them. God, we pray all this according to Your Word in Acts 4:13. Help us to be with You and live ordinary lives today for Your extraordinary purposes. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.