“After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.”
Acts 4:31 (NLT)
This verse is the result of the prayer that begins back in verse 24. All the believers lift their voices together, first recognizing the power of the One they’re praying to. They even point out how the persecution of Jesus and the threats of that day were a fulfillment of the Psalms—according to God’s will.
So they ask God to hear the threats of the enemies of his Son, and then they make their big request. They don’t pray for eloquence or better quotes or deeper theology. They pray, “Please, Lord, give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word.” That matters. We need to let the Word speak for itself—without fear and without restraint.
And their second request is that God would stretch out his hand with healing power and signs and wonders through the name of Jesus. We saw in Acts 4 that many believed after the lame man became a leaping man. The message must be accompanied with proof of the message, or it’s just a philosophical conversation. It’s informational, not transformational.
Then God answers: the meeting place shook, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they continued to preach the Word of God with boldness. It wasn’t only the apostles in that room. Those praying included all the believers, so those preaching included all the believers. We all have a responsibility to pray and preach. Not just with our mouths, but with lives that make the message believable.
This event looks like Acts 2, but they’re not breaking out in tongues here. They’d already been filled and indwelt by Holy Spirit. This was a fresh wind—an outpouring with strength for what they needed to do. The church needs this kind of boldness, but it does not come from trying harder. It comes from Holy Spirit. So let’s pray in unity, receive power only the Spirit can provide, and then let that empowerment flow out of us like living water—preaching and praying, in the name of Jesus.