Unless the
LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. (Psalm 127:1)
The most
significant, the most enduring movements have begun in prayer and have been
sustained by prayer. Let’s look at the
spiritual movements begun Acts. The
disciples had been given the Great Commission (Matt. 28:16-20) about 6 weeks
earlier. After His resurrection from the
dead, Jesus appeared to them and taught them much about the Kingdom of
God. He again told them that they were
to tell everyone around the world about Him.
But He told them to wait for the Holy Spirit first.
They
didn’t just sit around and check out Facebook or play video games. They didn’t go for a walk or watch the Lord
of the Rings trilogy to fill up their time.
What did they do? In Acts 1:14 we
find that the apostles have gathered a number of believers together to
pray. What did they pray for? Well, Luke doesn’t share with us the requests
on their prayer list, but since Jesus had given them a huge charge to fulfill,
they more than likely prayed for the fulfillment of their mission:
- or God to prepare them to be His witnesses,
- to prepare the hearts of non-believers,
- for God to prepare the situations and circumstances for the mission to be fulfilled,
- for boldness and courage to tell others about Him,
- for the words to speak…
They had
no idea of when or how the mission was going to be fulfilled, but they
continued in devoted prayer until God answered. And, boy, did He answer! About a week later of intense, faithful,
trusting prayer, the Holy Spirit came upon them in a powerful way that enabled
non-believers from all over the known world to hear the gospel in a clear
way. God answered their prayer in a more
amazing way that even the most full of faith would dare to ask or dream!
I have
been looking at examples of how the disciples continued to pray throughout the
book of Acts and the epistles associated with those movements (Eph.2:15-19,
Col.1:9-14, etc) and am convicted at how little priority I have made for
prayer. How about you? Are you devoted to prayer for your local
movement?
Please
share with us the things you are doing to make prayer a priority in your
movement. Let me know if you have good
ideas for leading prayer times for your ministry – I would love for others to
be motivated and encouraged by the things the Lord is leading you to do. Please share the things you are asking God to
do so that we can join you in prayer. I
would love to hear how God has been answering your prayers!
Don’t
forget, you can always go to the prayer section on www.2tim22.com [regrettably I have only been updating the 2tim22.ru site with additional resources on prayer].
