Day Seventy-three

'The First Church—A beautiful picture of prayer'

The first church in Acts—oh, what a model of prayer!  May you be inspired and encouraged as we look in the book of Acts at several of the examples given in testimony to the prayer life of the early church:

They all joined together constantly in prayer along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. (Acts 1:14)

Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen (Acts 1:24).”

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer (Acts 2:42).

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon (Acts 3:1).

When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them (Acts 4:24).”

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly (Acts 4:31).

“...and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word (Acts 6:4).”

They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them (Acts 6:6).

When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers, that they might receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:15).

Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up (Acts 9:40)

He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly (Acts 10:2).

So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him (Acts 12:5)

So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off (Acts 13:3). 

These are not even all of the verses in Acts that contain the word ‘pray’ or some form of it.  It is evident that the early church took prayer seriously.  They didn’t pray just because it was ‘the right thing to do.’  No—it was their livelihood; it was as natural to them as eating and breathing.  You see, they knew their weaknesses.  They knew they were nothing apart from Christ and were in need of His strength.

In the preceding verses we notice the fact that the early church prayed earnestly and constantly.  Let’s unpack each of these words:

· EARNESTLY: The dictionary defines earnestly as ‘serious in intention, purpose, or effort; sincerely zealous: an earnest worker; showing depth and sincerity of feeling: earnest words; an earnest entreaty. Seriously important; demanding or receiving serious attention.  When I think of an earnest person, I think of someone who wants something really, really badly—someone who has a one-track mind.  Is my mind on a one track pursuit of God?

· CONSTANTLY:  The dictionary defines constantly as ‘not changing or varying; continuing without pause or letup; unceasing, regularly recurrent; continual; persistent; faithful; unswerving; steadfast; firm in mind or purpose; resolute.’  I think sometimes this is confusing for us when we see in the Bible that people were praying constantly, unceasingly or continually.  We wonder, ‘well, how in the world do we do anything else if we are supposed to be praying all the time?  How can this be attainable?’  In his book ‘Purpose in Prayer’, EM Bounds answers this question:

‘Always does not mean that we are to neglect the ordinary duties of life; what it means is that the soul which has come into intimate contact with God in the silence of the prayer-chamber is never out of conscious touch with the Father, that the heart is always going out to him in loving communion and that the moment the mind is released from the task on which it is engaged, it returns as naturally to God as the bird does to its nest.’ 

Shall we seek the company of our Father?

Sweet Abba Father, forgive me, for my lack of zeal and my double-minded heart.  Forgive me for far too often loving lesser things.  I specifically ask for forgiveness for ___________________.  Break me of my habits that keep me far from you.  Break me of pursuing lesser things.  I come to you today asking You to give me the earnestness that the people in the Acts church had.  I pray I would be in hot pursuit for you—that I would be serious in intention, in purpose, in effort.  May my communion with you surpass the ‘once-a-day, checking it off the list’ kind of communion.  May it become something that is continual and unceasing throughout the day.  May my being within always default back to Your presence.  Lord, we beg You to meet with us in a powerful, life changing way on June 10-11.  Move in women’s hearts.  Change lives, Lord.  Do what you do best, Lord—move, shake, infiltrate.  May we see Your glory in a way that we have never experienced before!  ‘You are the strength of your people, a fortress of salvation for your anointed one.  Save your people and bless your inheritance; be our shepherd and carry us forever (Psalm 28:8-9).’ 


In Jesus name we pray,
Amen.