Day 1: Prayer
Scripture: Acts 4:23-31
On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David
‘Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers band together
against the Lord
and against his anointed one.*
Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
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.
*this section of the prayer is quoted from Psalm 2
Devotional: David did a fantastic job of painting the picture of awakening over the last five days. We will now shift our focus to the Arise values. Understanding these community pillars will help us live awakened lives and welcome a move of God in our city. The first value we will explore is the Holy Spirit. What does the Spirit have to do with an awakened life and community? Good question! We will spend the next five days looking at five different ways the Spirit wakes us up to the reality of Jesus.
Today we are looking at how the Holy Spirit empowers the prayer lives of the believers. We find the early church in the passage above responding to persecution. The religious leaders were threatened by Peter and John’s miracles and preaching, so they put them on trial, threatened persecution, and released them. The church immediately went into prayer when they heard the news.
Prayer is conversation with God. This sounds simple but we should underscore how supernatural of an act prayer really is. Talking with God is not a mere human ability. As Christians, we have a privileged position with God. We are adopted as sons and daughters of God, so our prayers carry weight. He listens to us. He hears our needs and concerns. And he responds. In fact, we have such intimate access to God that he’ll actually give us the ability to pray what is in his heart. Our prayers matter because they come from deep relationship with God.
The Holy Spirit will sometimes be referred to as the Spirit of Prayer because he moves us to intercede, or pray, what is in the heart of God. He causes us to cry out to God, “Abba, Father!” (Rom. 8:15). He brings us into the family of God and gives us the gifting of prayer and communication with God.
That’s why we don’t treat prayer like it’s playing the state lottery - throwing up requests with the small chance that God might actually hear and respond. No. We pray with bold confidence, knowing that as Christians we are empowered to “pray at all times in the Spirit.” (Eph. 6:18) We pray fervently because we know God’s heart, believe he has power, and truth that our prayers help to usher his kingdom into our world. We have confidence because we don't pray in our own strength. Our prayers are empowered by the Holy Spirit.
The early church in today’s passage prayed a prayer straight from the heart of God. We know this to be the case because they borrowed their prayer from God’s word, from Psalms 2.
Psalm 2 was not a random passage but is a direct response to the persecution they were facing. That Old Testament song proclaims the promise that the Son of God will defeat his enemies and protect his people. Psalm 2 is a prophesied that the nations will be brought under the rule of the Messiah. The early church didn’t pray any random passage in the face of persecution. They were calling on God to keep his promises of protection and provision. They were demanding from God that Jesus’ authority be shown in their current situation. It was a bold prayer. A confident prayer. A Spirit empowered prayer.
Our role in God’s plan is a mystery. It is surprising that he wants to partner with us to fulfill his purposes. But the truth is that God chose us to help usher in his kingdom here on earth. The early church understood this. They ended their prayer by asking God to, ”Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” What happened after was nothing short of awakening.
When the people of God pray the heart of God in the Spirit of God; then awakening becomes possible in our lives and in our world.
Prayer: Today, I invite you to think about the areas in your life and our world that need God’s intervention. What hurts? Where has sin been destructive? Who needs to know the love of God. Now, before you begin praying for them, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal how you ought to pray for them. What does God desire to see happen? Let’s pray today knowing that we are praying the heart of God over our lives and our world.
Will you also take some time to pray for the Arise community? Pray that the Holy Spirit will grip our hearts with a passion for prayer.
