Prayer in the Early Church/Book of Acts

“The power of the church truly to bless rests on intercession – asking and receiving heavenly gifts to carry to men.” E. M. Bounds

While reading about the great revivals and awakenings over the last 50 years has often stirred up my struggling faith and zeal, probably even more so has my yearly readings through the book of Acts. I recently finished reading through Acts again, and I want to share some about the role individual, small group and corporate or congregational prayer played in the amazing things God did in that first century. Since the book starts with more corporate or congregational prayer, let’s begin with that aspect of the prayer life of the early church.

So Jesus was crucified for our sins, rose from the dead, spent 40 strategic days mostly with the 11 disciples and some of the others who closely followed Him, then ascended to be with Father and Holy Spirit in heaven. Before He ascended, He instructed His disciples to “…wait for what the Father had promised..” (Acts 1:4 – see Luke 24:49).

Now the praying track record of the disciples up to the end of the four gospels is …well rather embarrassing, especially as seen in the garden of Gethsemane. But knowing how much Jesus prayed daily leading up to His death on the cross, I’m confident He prayed often with the gathered disciples in those 40 days before His ascension, though there is no record of such. Principled men live consistently according to principle and Jesus was the ultimate principled man. The communion/fellowship He enjoyed with Father and Holy Spirit for all of eternity was never broken while He was on earth except perhaps for that horrible/wonderful moment on the cross when He became sin (our sin was laid upon Him) and He cried out “Father, Father why have you forsaken Me”?. So it stands to reason that pattern continued in the 40 days of fairly regular appearances with His disciples (the eleven and others closely connected to them/Him).

So Jesus has ascended to heaven, and now the disciples begin their wait in Jerusalem in an upper room of someone’s home. There were about 120 of them, and Acts 1:14 tells us, “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.” If you have studied the gospels you know that having “one mind” is not what the 11 were known for. Nor was waiting for any significant length of time. But now the 11 with 110 or so others are all “continually” (not sporadically, not when convenient) “devoting themselves to prayer” (not dabbling in prayer) but making it their most serious business.

One reason they were able to be of one mind is because Jesus had specifically told them what they were to wait on. He had promised them what would be theirs if they would wait. And that "what" is much needed power and an experience with the Holy Spirit that would infuse them with that power called being “baptized with the Holy Spirit” (see Luke 3:16, Acts 1:5). First Jesus assures them in Acts 1:5 that they “….will be baptized by the Holy Spirit”; then He explains what it is for in vs. 8, “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”   (see my study on the baptism of the Holy Spirit here for more info.: https://www.kingdomstreams.net/post/a-study-of-the-baptism-of-the-holy-spirit).

Another reason they were able this time around to be of one mind and to wait so patiently (9-10 days) was because they all were born again and had received the Holy Spirit by this time. But they had not been baptized with the Holy Spirit yet.

Well out of this continual devoted time of prayer for around 10 days came inspired and anointed leadership by Peter to see Judas’s replacement appointed and unity on the part of the 120 to follow Peter’s leadership (Acts 1:15-26). And then the pouring out of the Holy Spirit that the prophet Joel had predicted and John the Baptist and Jesus had prophesied about (see 2:1-6), and then a powerfully anointed and spontaneous sermon by Peter with a united front supporting him from the 11 (see 2:14-36) and then a tremendous response of the previously unresponsive Jews gathered in Jerusalem for the feast (see vs. 37-41), not to mention the signs and wonders taking place, the ongoing united worship and prayer, etc. of this rapidly growing congregation. All of this really a response to 10 days of united fervent prayer.

What I love about this young thriving church is corporate prayer was not a flash in the pan, or just something the leaders did, but it was an all church all the time thing. “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer (literally “the prayers”), which doesn’t speak to memorized liturgies, but rather to various kinds of prayer (praise, thanksgiving, supplication, intercession, binding, loosing, declaring, etc.). Please note those two recurring words, “continually devoting” that we first saw in Acts 1:14. Very important to see that vs. 43 follows the practices of vs. 42.

The next time mention is made by the Holy Spirit through author Luke of corporate prayer is in Acts 3:1, “Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer.” The 9^th hour or 3:00 p.m. was the time for the afternoon sacrifice in the temple. Normally at the same time the priest took care of that, the congregation would gather outside to pray. All the praying Peter and John witnessed of their Savior when He was on earth, not to mention all the instruction on prayer including His fiery rebuke, “…My Father’s house is to be a house of prayer!... while cleansing the temple now combined with an ever greater experience of the Holy Spirit’s power in their lives helped them seize any and every opportunity to pray with God’s people.

Scheduled regular times of prayer are so important for the church to be the church. But sometimes spontaneous or urgent times of prayer are of the essence. And such is the case with the gathering for prayer seen in Acts 4:23-31. This time of prayer came on the heels of Peter and John being released by the authorities for their “crime” of healing the lame man and speaking of the One from whom the healing came. They were sternly warned by the authorities to never again “…speak or teach …in the name of Jesus.” Vs. 18.

When they gathered with their fellow disciples and apostles they all began to “lift ..their voice to God with one accord” (vs. 24). It is interesting to me that even though these apostles and disciples had experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit as noted in the beginning of chapter two that they still recognized their need for more confidence and boldness in their witness (vs. 28), and they asked that the Father would continue “….to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.” Some speak of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a one time experience that solves all of our problems…I think per Luke 11:13 we should ask for more of His power and presence and anointing and courage etc., whenever we think to do so. I’m thankful for experiences I’ve had with the Holy Spirit when more mature and more anointed people have prayed over me. But I don’t ever want to be content or satisfied with what I’ve experienced, knowing that there is so much more in His heart and mind for me (and you). Indeed even for these they all experienced another filling of the Holy Spirit (see vs. 31) as a result or fruit of their time of prayer (not to mention the physical shaking of the house they were gathered in).

The final thing I want to say about this passage is I love how they started off with praise and quoting Psalm 2 and how confident they were of God’s sovereign rule over all government authorities (see vs. 24-28). May we do the same and be the same in our prayer gatherings.

OK. Lord willing and Randy willing we will continue this series on prayer in the book of Acts. But for now I need to get ready for our gathering this evening in our home. God bless each of you and give you an ever greater anointing for gathering with God’s people to pray whenever you have the opportunity. And may you be ever more filled with His Spirit as a result!