Acts 1.14 14 All these with one accord were devoting
themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and
his brothers. (ESV)
After Jesus’ ascension His men (which included His chosen
apostles, His family, and others who were closely associated with Him) devoted
themselves to prayer. I think they understood that things were about to change, and whatever they thought about the Holy Spirit really didn’t matter; they knew
that Jesus had told them something BIG was going to happen. And so they prayed.
In my church we are about to embark on an emphasis of
Living Love. As God’s children and disciples of Jesus Christ, we are going to
go out into our community and do something
for our neighbors in humble and loving service. Or at least we’re going to try.
Church isn’t about staying within the four walls of a building but getting ‘out
there’ representing God in the world serving others and caring about their
needs. It will be time consuming. It will have its own difficulties and will, at
moments, be inconvenient. We’ll just have to learn to serve God through
difficulty and inconvenience. And it will take the Holy Spirit to help us. And
we must pray. In order to serve together, we must learn to pray together.
Prayer is hard work. Prayer takes time. Prayer takes
diligence. Prayer takes devotion. Despite these things, prayer changes things.
It isn’t about accomplishing things as much as it is about changing lives. It
seems when we pray, God, apparently, gets the giggles and does the most outlandish
things in response. (I’m not trying to belittle God but I am testifying to the
truth that prayer prepares, prayer equips, prayer delights, and prayer
accomplishes the changing of hearts.) Does my community need changed hearts?
You bet! Does yours?
Do we need to be taught to pray? Yes, we do. Do we need
to be encouraged to pray? Yes, we do. Do we need, like the saints of old, to devote ourselves to prayer in
anticipation of big things? Absolutely. Will big things happen? One way or the
other. Either big things will happen around us, or big things will happen
within us. Prayer changes hearts.
Interestingly, the verse above indicates Jesus’ brothers
were present at the prayer meetings in anticipation of the big thing to come.
If you look at John 7.1-9 you’ll see Jesus’ brothers didn’t have much
confidence in their Brother’s calling and ministry. They seemed to ridicule
Jesus accusing Him of wanting to be “known openly” (or, be a public figure –
their way of saying, a celebrity.)
Something happened in between John 7 and Acts 1: Jesus’ brothers changed. I
think the life of God changed them. I think their hearts were changed. I think
ours can be as well and I think those around us that we care about can have
their hearts changed also. Big things happen when people pray.
Father, You know my track record in prayer is pathetic
and all I pray today is for a changed heart. May I embrace what You are doing
in my church and community and may I, like the saints of old, devote myself to
prayer – Amen.
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