and try adding some moments for regular and planned prayer. A devotion to prayer meant that prayer was a regular part of the day for believers and also a special part
of the life of the church. A number of times through the book of Acts, we read about significant moments in the life of the church that were punctuated by prayer. When the apostles sought to replace Judas Iscariot, they prayed and asked the Lord to show them whom He had chosen (1:24). When seven men were chosen to serve tables, enabling the twelve to concentrate on “prayer and the ministry of the word,” the men were set before the apostles who “prayed and laid their hands on them” (6:1-6). When the church at Antioch commissioned Barnabas and Saul as their first missionaries, they fasted, prayed, laid their hands on them, and sent them off (13:1-3). And as Barnabas and Saul made their way through Galatia on that first missionary journey, they “ap- pointed elders… in every church, with prayer and fasting” (14:23). We can be thankful that our denominational practices follow these Biblical precedents and continue to make
prayer an important aspect of our church life. There is special prayer when new officers are ordained and installed, when covenant children or new believers are baptized, when missionaries or short term teams are commissioned, and perhaps even as we face significant cultural moments: an election, a new year, a war, a pandemic. Do you take advantages of the opportunities your church provides for corporate prayer? One of the more beautiful descriptions of prayer in the book of Acts occurs in relating the response of the church to the release of Peter and John from the custody of the Jewish leaders: “When they heard [of] it, they lifted their voices together to God” (4:24). This is what we are doing when we pray together, what a wonderful privilege! Both Peter and Paul displayed a devotion to prayer as they carryed out the work given them by the Lord
Jesus. Even though they had been filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit, they came humbly to the Lord in prayer before performing signs and wonders in his name. When Peter was brought to the dead body of Tabitha, “he knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, ‘Tabitha, arise’” (9:40). Paul, likewise, prays before laying his hands on and healing the father of Publius (28:8). Unlike Peter and Paul, we are not called to the display of miracles as we participate in the building of the kingdom of God, but we are called to evangelism and discipleship, to the use of our spiritual gifts, and to the encouragement of believers with our speech. Even as we walk in the good works that were prepared beforehand for us (Eph. 2:10), we must not forget to approach each opportunity, each gospel conversation with prayer.
Study of Prayer A fascinating aspect of a study of prayer in the book of Acts is how often the answer to a prayer comes in the
very midst of the prayer. In chapter 10, Cornelius was given a vision declaring that his prayers have been an- swered while he was praying (10:30-31). Sometimes the answer to a prayer for someone comes while others are praying for him. In chapter 12, Luke tells us that the church was earnestly praying for Peter who was in prison and then that an angel of the Lord miraculously helped Peter escape from prison. When Peter went to see his friends, he found them gathered together and praying (vs. 5, 7, 12). And in a dramatic example, while Paul and Silas were praying in the Philippian jail, there was suddenly a great earthquake that caused the prison doors to open and the bonds to unfasten (16:25). We may be tempted to think of prayer as an action on a checklist that must be completed before God can work. But these examples show that prayer is the work God has given his people to do that involves them in his great purposes. The episode with the earthquake and the jail is the culmination of Paul and Silas’s time in Philippi. This Ro-
man colony apparently had no synagogue, so on the Sabbath after their arrival, Paul and Silas went down to the riverside “where [they] supposed there was a place of prayer” (16:13). It was there that they met some women including Lydia “who was a worshiper of God” (16:14). After hearing the word of God from Paul, Lydia and her household were baptized, beginning the Christian church in Philippi (16:15). And it was on the way to that place of prayer that Paul and Silas met the slave girl out of whom they cast an evil spirit. This was what caused them to be thrown in jail where, after the earthquake, the jailer and his household were baptized. Prayer was the central feature of this origin story of the Philippian congregation and prayer remained a key component of the relationship between that church and the Apostle Paul. When Paul later writes to this beloved church, he
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