God's Holy Fire: 'Putting It in Context'

Friday, May 15, 2026

[Disciples praying to the Lord after Peter and John were released from jail:] "You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: 'Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?'"
— Acts 4:25 NIV

Key Thought

The disciples proclaimed that what was happening in their day was what God had spoken through his servant David by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The violence and opposition that the early followers of Jesus were facing were not a surprise. They were expected. They were anticipated. They were prophesied years earlier by King David in Psalm 2. What's more, this message of the Holy Spirit was God's reminder that the opposition they faced would fail! Jesus, God's anointed, would lead God's people to triumph. The efforts of the nations and the rulers to stop the cause of Christ were - and still are - futile. And God had spoken this truth a thousand years earlier, through his servant David by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit - the same Holy Spirit who lived within each of those who were following Jesus and who also lives within each of us who follow him!

Today's Prayer

El Shaddai, God Most High, Almighty God, you speak, and our world is changed. So today, I pray that you will move with power and make the words of your servant David true in our day. Frustrate the power of the wicked. Defeat the efforts of those who would silence, harass, limit, marginalize, persecute, and kill the followers of Jesus. Frustrate the desires of the wicked and bring righteousness to life in our time and our world, through your people. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

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Illustration

Illustration of Acts 4:25 NIV — "You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: 'Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?'"

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About This Devotional

God's Holy Fire is a daily devotional about the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The Thoughts and Prayer for God's Holy Fire are written by Phil Ware.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture quotations marked MESSAGE are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

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