This verse jumped out at me like a wild animal in a forest…partly because of the new series we are in at our church on prayer and fasting, and partly because of our current Women’s Bible Study on the Holy Spirit.

So what struck me most were the first few words, “After they prayed…” It was ‘after’ they prayed that the Holy Spirit shook the place where the disciples were, and it was ‘after’ they prayed that they spoke the Word of the God boldly. I have to believe God was already there, but He showed up vividly after His people cried out to Him in prayer, almost as if they were finally welcoming Him into the conversation with a sincere desire to align their hearts with His.

It makes me think of what it is like to be parents who are waiting in the living room for their teenage child to quit shutting them out, to open their bedroom door and actually sit down and talk about the issues at hand…to stop rebelling, trying to do everything their own way, and to start listening and understanding his or her parents’ hearts for them. Sometimes those parents wait years, sometimes God does too.

He is always just a prayer away, just a breath away…but He waits. And once we come out of our room, our rebellion, our ‘do it my way’ kind of thinking and talk to Him with a humble and open heart, there is no end to what He can do. He can shake our world and give us incredible boldness to serve Him in new ways, sometimes to speak His truths more boldly than we ever thought we could.

As His Holy Spirit takes control, His Word abounds, and we get the incredible privilege of being His vessels, His conduits as it were. He knows who will be watching or listening — whether it is one or 1,000 — and He knows exactly what they need to see or hear through us… through anyone who will pray and seek Him fully. Bottom line, when we pray, God listens, God guides and God does miraculous things through feeble, broken, needy human beings.

For me, prayer is a very humbling place where God straightens me out and aligns my heart to His so that I, His beloved daughter, can step away from myself — my own selfish desires and rebellious ways — and into His will, empowered to do His work, His way and in His time, all by the power of the Holy Spirit. How thankful I am today and always for our Great Three-in-One God… Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 🙌🏻❤️✝️😊

©️Celebrate His Love 2022