The Prayer of Faith
There was a foundation in the followers of Christ that was firmly established in the beginning. After His resurrection Jesus instructed His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. After He ascended to heaven from the Mount of Olives, they obeyed this word faithfully and intently. They returned to Jerusalem and the eleven apostles gathered together in the upper room of the house where they were staying. Acts 1:14 tells us that: “These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.” NASB
Note two things. They were in unity and in prayer continually. When the time came for the Holy Spirit to come, they were ready. Through the Spirit they were given the boldness to powerfully bear witness to the what they saw — the resurrection of Jesus. When later they were threatened by the religious leaders, they again came together in unity and prayed for the Hand of the Lord to again heal and demonstrate His grace to others.
Acts 4:31-33:
31 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.
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.
NIV
In another instance, Herod had executed James, and arrested Peter. The church earnestly prayed for him and he was miraculously released before his trial by an angel of the Lord! (Acts 12:6-11)
Throughout the history of the church prayer has always been the greatest source of her power. That time spent with Him in His presence, seeking Him, opening our hearts to Him, listening to Him, receiving both His encouragement and His correction can accomplish so much more than any of our human plans and schemes. For these early Christians, prayer was not a last resort.
Maybe in our day and in our part of the world we are not desperate enough to develop this kind of prayer life. But we should be! Maybe we should be reminded of what Jesus said in the book of Revelation to the church at Laodicea. They thought that they were fine because of their material prosperity. However, in the eyes of Jesus they were “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” (Revelation 3:17).
KJV
Maybe it is easier for believers in countries where they are persecuted or suffering in poverty to earnestly seek the Lord in prayer. On the other hand, maybe we need a real wake up call from Jesus to see how desperate we really are.
Drug abuse, divorce, homelessness, abortion, racism, war, greed, immorality, self-centeredness, crime, cultural decay have all become conditions that we have learned to live with in our modern society. Sure we can come to our nice church services and enjoy a measure of peace and comfort, but even that is often interrupted by scandal, corruption and division in our midst.
Beyond that, we will always have a reason to pray. He is our reason to desire time with Him! He alone is all the reward we need for responding to His desire for a relationship with us! In His Presence is fullness of joy!
James wrote of a specific kind of prayer.
James 5:16:
16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.
NLT
In other translations of this passage the words, fervent and effective are used. I get the picture from this and other stories in the bible that these are not simply bland and formal prayers, but prayers filled with passion and heart. Most of all they are expressions of faith in the God Whom we know and trust. He is our Father Who will not give us a snake instead of a fish, or a rock instead of bread! (Matthew 7:8-11).
The church in Acts does not reflect a cold complacency but it inspires us to believe God for bigger things, things which bring glory to our wonderful Savior and Lord! He wants us to learn to pray in the Holy Spirit, so that we can confidently pray for those things which He in His wisdom knows is best for all. (1 Corinthians 14:15, Romans 8:26-27, Ephesians 6:18, Jude 20). Yes, He came into their lives as they prayed, but He also prayed through them with an energy and passion that turned the world upside down!
In that Upper Room – were they in a large circle or all facing Peter as he spoke? I see more and more internet teachers insisting that Christians should only meet in a circle in a private home… :)
The 120 is also the number of PRIESTS who were with Solomon when he brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. The Ark of the Covenant symbolised God’s presence (2 Chron 5:12). Now – we are all priests unto our God and unto each other.
I find it strange that women would be given a gift of prophecy which God would later withdraw. I personally do not think He has.
Another minor detail with major implications are the ‘old men’ referred to in this account of ancient prophecy unfolding before their eyes. The old men are contrasted with the young men and in the original Greek, they are the same as the ELDERS. Yet we always regard elders as “church officers”. In doing so, we depreciate the idea that every Christian older one is to shepherd the younger ones. As we follow the qualifications for this task. See 1 Peter 5. Titus 1. 1 Timothy 3
Even Spurgeon taught that if you could do anything other than be a pastor, you should. But this is not the language of scripture. There, Christian seniors are told to take up the work of shepherding voluntarily. To “take heed to their ministry”. And to remember the words of Jesus that if ANYONE sacrificed for his Kingdom, they would be carefully rewarded.
Likewise in Titus, it was the elders who were appointed not to an office but to the work of oversight. Paul carefully reviewed the plan with his helper and they had a mutual and previous understanding that shepherding was the WORK that elders were appointed to. Thus he writes: ” … as I have appointed you to do.” In other words – they were not appointed to be elders but to the work of oversight. They were elders already.
The older men are no more officers than the older women who were also required to teach, be exemplary in behavior and stay off the booze, etc. Reminiscent to the requirements of the older men, whom Paul had just addressed.
Note that his message to the newly formed communities was not about leaderless groups of self-feeders but rather that they stood in immediate need of caring overseers.
In contradistinction to those who would limit such natural and informal shepherding, Paul says if ANY consider oversight – they consider a good work. Even the younger ones would naturally involve themselves more and more, knowing that this was their ultimate responsibility and destination. Do you agree?
“Peter, do you love me? Feed my lambs!” His confession itself was not enough. He/we must act accordingly.
OK Dan. Back to your subject of prayer. You will recall that later in the book of Acts, these elders were “appointed with fasting AND prayer.” Reminding us again that church leadership (without hierarchy) is indeed a big deal.
David,
When you mentioned Peter, it is interesting to me that he hesitated at the responsibility that Jesus had given him. Do you suppose that same reluctance is in many older believers, who would prefer to hire a professional to care for the younger believers? Jesus would ask them, “Do you really love me?”
Brother Dan, I seriously doubt that human nature has changed or improved over the millennia.
The answer in part is found in the words of Paul, Philippians 2:21: For all seek their own – not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.
The first reflex of the excuse making “layman” is to note that others are being paid to “minister”. Therefore they can just bow out…
“Let George do it.”