30 Days - Day 14

Day 14

Acts 7:59

And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Last Sunday we looked at Peter and John coming up to the temple at the 9th hour or the hour of prayer. It was an opportunity to talk a little about commitment to regular times of prayer. Interestingly enough today’s prayer could be considered similar, though the circumstances are totally different. Here what we have is a man, Stephen. He is full of good works. He is filled with the Spirit. He is knowledgeable about scripture and he is habitual in prayer.

Stephen has been preaching the gospel and conflict arises. The problem is (at least for those opposed to Stephen) that He makes too much sense. He has the right answers and no one can contradict him. So what is left to do but trump up some charges. At his sham of a trial Stephen easily counters all charges suggested against him, not by defending himself, but simply by preaching the truth. He shows not only devotion to God but to the authority of the Hebrew scripture. As a result the people are cut to the heart, though unrepentant, and stone him. And we are told that they stone him as he is praying. It wasn't that they started to throw stones and found in this position Stephen cries out to God. No! In fact, it is the other way around. Stephen is in the midst of prayer and then they begin to stone him.

What an awesome habit of prayer, that in such a circumstance he is praying. If it were me I think I would be defending myself. The law, my rights and righteous indignation would probably be on my lips. Stephen has the all the evidence for innocence on his side, yet here is Stephen praying, “Jesus, receive my spirit”. He entrusts himself to a righteous God content to trust His judgment. Paul later said that he had learned to be content in every circumstance. I can’t help wondering if this is where he began learning that. He, as Saul, was here giving approval to these proceedings, but later in life perhaps he understood Stephen’s contentment to rely on the Lord through this habit of prayer displayed at his stoning.

Prayer Requests Day 14

1) For the Churches of Slovenia to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord. That they would proclaim the Gospel. That they would reach out rather than get stuck looking in
2) For Miro and Mateja and their family. We will be celebrating their daughter's B-day with them later today.
3) For the coming week as we prepare for various opportunities - preaching next Sunday, time with friends and acquaintances, various meetings for future opportunities
4) Christian and Julia's health - Christian seems like he might be coming down with a cold