Life is so unpredictable. In one moment we are admiring God's goodness, and in the next, we are wondering if it exists.

It's quite telling of our nature as humans when we experience the rough waters of life and we forget who God is.

There's an overturning that happens when all of our hopes and admiration in Jesus gets lost amidst what is confusing, broken, or challenging.

Acts 3-5 is beautiful. It shares the story of Peter and John praying for a crippled man to receive healing and when he does, it amazes the crowd, the disciples preach, 5,000 people get saved, and they get arrested.

I don't know about you but I can kind of relate to how they must have been feeling. You step out in faith, God moves, you step out in power, God moves... everything is awesome and then BOOM! You get arrested.

I've never been arrested but my point here is that, in this life, we are going to experience the great things and then run into the ugly.

Even YEARS ago they were experiencing "setbacks" and "dilemmas" like we read in Acts.

Since this is a part of life that we've all experienced, and will continue to experience, we should look at Peter and John's reactions to this problem to see how responding in these situations should look.

1. We are to let our speech be guided by the Holy Spirit.

It's so true that as soon as something happens, our mouths are the first thing to get crazy. The words that are said don't even line up with what we really believe. So many times, our words are just reacting to what we are going through and... it's not that great.

The first thing that we have record of the disciples saying after their arrest was quoted in verse 8 of Acts 4. It's prefaced by "Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, answered". It blows my mind how even his response to a critical, conniving council is led by the very Spirit of God.

To look at my own life, I know that this is not always the case for me. I let my words be flippant, especially when I feel troubled. But, let us be the people who are continually filled with the Spirit so that when the situations of disappointment arise, we are able to have self-control over our lips.

Jude 1:20 has been one of my favorite verses for a while. It says, "But you, my delightfully loved friends, constantly and progressively build yourselves up on the foundation of your most holy faith by praying every moment in the Spirit." The crazy thing about this verse is that Judah did not write it specifically/only for pastors or leaders in the church, but for Eastern Mediterranean Christians, for all of God's lovers. Each and every one of us are called to pray, in every single moment, in the Spirit of God. This is what will build us up and cause our fruit of the Spirit to flourish.

2. We are to have hope in Jesus, not our situation's end.

This one isn't directly stated but it is observed. Peter and John didn't in one moment pray for their situation to end.

I don't know how I feel about that exactly.

It's incredibly hard for me to be in the midst of what feels like harm and carry a heart of trust.

These two disciples had learned how to be content in all things, and this is the complete opposite of our human nature.

When the situation we are in persists and wraps us so tightly, it can seem like all we can do is pray to be out, to be removed, to be helped, but is God not already able? Does He not know our best, our every moment, our challenges?

I don't think we do it on purpose, but it happens. We are people who are not content in the good, and definitely not the bad. We are children who are prone to freak-out and run from the arrest that is coming for us.

In the times where we are faced with the ability to pray to get out, what if we trusted? What if we stood bold in the relationship that God has awarded us with?

In Acts 4:13 it states, "The council members were astonished as they witnessed the bold courage of Peter and John, especially that they were just ordinary men who had never had religious training."

Man, it just rings in my head. How many people could we astonish if our faith was not reduced to fear when the trial came? How many people could see that our relationship with God is really what the Bible says it can be?

I love the following sentence most of all. It says, "Then they began to understand the effect Jesus had on them simply by spending time with them."

What if, people began to know Jesus because of our time spent with Him, simply by living lives that were Spirit led? The world will recognize Him through us, that's how it has happened and how it will continue to happen until He comes back for His bride.

Every circumstance that you walk through is for a purpose. That purpose is that men and women, children, and the elderly would know Jesus. With guarded lips and hearts that trust, we can do more than we could ever imagine.

For after Peter and John were released, the believers "raised their voices in unity and prayed... the earth shook, each one of them was filled with the Holy Spirit, and they proclaimed the word of God with unrestrained boldness."

It is amazing what God can do when we are in line with His Spirit, especially in the midst of our trials.