The council then threatened them further, but they finally let them go because they didn’t know how to punish them without starting a riot. For everyone was praising God for this miraculous sign—the healing of a man who had been lame for more than forty years. As soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priests and elders had said. When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: “O Sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them…
(Acts 4:21-24 NLT)
I’m often disturbed by Christians who diminish the importance of gathering with the other saints. By confessing Jesus as Lord, we enter into a spiritual battle. Each of us has a real spiritual enemy who is dedicated to the damnation of our soul and, failing that, will take every effort to immobilize us and prevent us from fulfilling our purpose. When those attacks come, we are designed by God to have a cadre of other believers, a local church (Gr. ekeklesia – the called out ones), to which we can return to find spiritual nurture and prayer.
Today is Sunday. I don’t know how you’ve been hammered this week, but if you’re serving Jesus you have had some battles, large and small. Rather than staying home and licking your wounds, how about trying the God-given remedy of going to the gathering of “other believers” and getting someone to pray for you. Do not try to do this alone.
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