What Jesus Saw

 
23 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. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. (Acts 4:23-24)
 
11 Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.” 12 When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. (Acts 12:11-12)
 
10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. 11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. 12 From there we travelled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days. 13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshipper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptised, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us. 16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned round and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.  (Acts 16:10-18)
“My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” (Isaiah 56:7)
We are currently living through a very exciting moment in Church history, as Christians finally regain permission to regather back together in their church buildings and in their homes. The Church has survived lockdown and we are now entering a time of rebuilding. That’s why it is so helpful for us to be reading slowly through Acts 1-8 together, as we seek to relay good foundations for Everyday Church by going back to God’s original plan.

One theme leaps out from the pages of the book of Acts as we regather back together. It’s that the early Christians gathered principally in order to enjoy conversations with God together in prayer. In Acts 4:23-24, they are threatened and mistreated by the government. Instead of gossiping or complaining or writing angry letters to the governor, we are told that they instinctively gathered together for prayer. In Acts 12, when Peter is miraculously released for prison and wants to tell the Christians in Jerusalem, he immediately knows where to find them. They will be at Mary’s house gathering together in prayer. This is such a clear theme of the book of Acts that in Acts 16:13 and 16, the short-hand term for any gathering of God’s people is “the place of prayer”. We should find this both encouraging and challenging. One of the main reasons why the Lord wants us to gather back together is so that we can pray to him together. He wants to empower us to do this so we mustn’t get distracted from it.  

What would it mean for us as a church to embrace the Lord’s desire for us in Isaiah 56:7 – “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations”? It means more than just the obvious – for us to make the most of our church Prayer Room on Zoom. It means rethinking what we do together at our church gatherings. At our in-person services yesterday, we devoted much of our response time to praying and interceding together. Prayer matters too much for us to relegate it to just prayer meetings! This week at our Life Groups, we are also devoting more time than usual to prayer together.

But this insight also needs to influence more than our corporate gatherings. Every time we gather together with our Christian friends for dinner or for a barbecue or for the England game or at the pub, let’s learn to make prayer part and parcel of what we do whenever we gather together. Whilst we long to reopen our church buildings fully, let’s not forget that we ourselves are the true Temple of the Holy Spirit. We are that ones that God desires to transform into “a house of prayer for all nations.”
1)   Have another read through today’s passages about prayer. What is it that you think made the first Christians so passionate about praying together?

2)   How can you be a positive influence, interjecting prayer into wherever you go?

3)   Who are your most frequent prayer partners? How can you grow together as a house of prayer for all nations?
Father God, I thank you that want me to have conversations with you in prayer. I don’t find that as easy as I would like to, but thank you that you have promised to help me through your Holy Spirit. Please help me and my brothers and sisters at church to make prayer part and parcel of every time we gather together. Help us to truly become a house of prayer for all nations. I ask this for your glory, Lord. Amen.
Today’s Everyday Devotions were brought to you by Phil Moore, who leads our team of whole-church elders.

If you have time, consider carrying on your conversation with God using one of our helpful Prayer Pathways.

Today’s Everyday Devotions have also inspired a devotional video that you can watch on our YouTube channel.
 
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