Todays Reading, Acts 1-3
Focal Scripture: Acts 1:14 “They all were continually united in prayer, along with the women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.”
How much time does your church spend in prayer? One church I attended I investigated it and found out. For two weeks straight I ran a timer to see how much of the service and how much time during the week was spent in prayer. I was shocked and appalled at the answer. In two consecutive services the total amount of time spent in prayer was less than two minutes. A service lasted almost 90 minutes. Even though we said prayer mattered our actions showed something different.
In today’s reading we see that the Holy Spirit was promised to believers. We also see that everyone was united in prayer. Think of the implications behind this statement. Every person had one goal. They were focused on prayer. Not programs, not work, not singing, and not even preaching. Prayer was the priority. They worked together to humble themselves in prayer.
The implications behind this truth are so important. What would happen if believers prayed more than we did anything else? United in one goal and that was to pour our hearts to the living God of the universe. Then after we poured out our hearts we sat in quiet reflection. We waited patiently for the Lord to speak.
In this context they prayed in response to a mighty move of God. They didn’t form a committee to examine what happened. They didn’t dissect every detail. They prayed and prayed together.
My challenge for you today is to become a person of prayer. Create a culture of prayer in your church. It will be difficult and challenging. However, prayer is how we communicate with God and how he communicates with us. If we spent more time in unified prayer everything would change.
We can’t just say prayer is important. we must demonstrate it by our actions.
Tomorrow I plan on reading Acts 4-6
