I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Acts 4-6

When the Jewish Council ordered Peter and John to stop teaching in the name of Jesus, they responded that they would obey God rather than man.  Then when Peter and John returned to the other Believers after being threatened, the entire group prayed for courage in the face of these threats.  They did not pray for protection from persecution.  They prayed for courage to be faithful in the face of persecution.  In fact they prayed that their testimony would be even more noteworthy.  They sought to spread the word of God in the face of persecution and welcomed that persecution as a sign that they were faithfully following Jesus.  Further, we see that this prayer was not mere braggadocio.  A short time later, the Apostles were arrested while preaching in the Temple and thrown in jail overnight for a trial the following day.  They were miraculously freed from prison.  And what did they do with this freedom but go back to the Temple and start preaching again.