Acts 1:14-All these with one mind and one purpose were continually devoting themselves to prayer, [waiting together] along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
The early church in Jerusalem was devoted to prayer right from the very start. After the ascension of Jesus, the first 120 believers gathered together in an upper room and poured out their hearts to God. They were devoted to prayer because they were dedicated to and desperate for God. What does God do? He pours out his Holy Spirit upon them and births the church. He gathers a large crowd, anoints a now transformed Peter to preach, and saves 3,000 people. And the church was off and running, transforming the Roman Empire.
This continues throughout the book of Acts. The church moves from a small group of Jewish believers to sweep through the Roman Empire and become a large, international, multilingual, and multiethnic body of believers empowered by the Holy Spirit. And behind it all was one fact: the church was devoted to prayer.
At every critical juncture, all through the remarkable record of the early church, there is the power of prayer. United, passionate, believing prayer. Things happen when God’s people band together and devote themselves to prayer. God shows up. The Spirit comes in power. Christ is exalted. The lost get saved. The sick get healed. Lives become transformed. Breakthroughs happen. All because of prayer. When we are devoted to God and desperate for God, we will become committed to prayer. God uses people who pray. God uses churches that pray. Prayer is the real work of ministry.
What can be more excellent than prayer; what is more profitable to our life; what sweeter to our souls; what more sublime, in the course of our whole life, than the practice of prayer!
Saint Augustine
Reflections: Find a church that is devoted to prayer because they are desperate for God. This is what God wants every church to look like. This is what God wants your church to look like.
- What were Jesus’ instructions before leaving? They were to wait in Jerusalem until the power of the Holy Spirit came and while they waited, they prayed. Grace & Glory
Grace always prepares us for God’s purpose. -Grace & Glory
Prayer: Father, I thank you for being trustworthy. You are a sovereign God, working out Your eternal purposes in my life. You see the end from the beginning. Nothing takes You by surprise. You know exactly what is ahead for me, And I can trust that you are equipping me today for what is to come tomorrow. Teach me to wait on You. Teach me to pray until Your Spirit speaks, as I read Your Word and listen. And teach me to take hold of the grace You have already prepared for me. Amen
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