(Acts 1:14; 2:42; 4:23-31)

Bringing the sermon home:

A foundational commitment of every healthy church is the commitment to devote ourselves to prayer.

As we reflect upon the first few chapters of Acts, we can’t help but to notice the place of prayer in the life of these first Christians, as “all these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer.” A life devoid of prayer is a self-reliant life, and a self-reliant life is a life utterly devoid of spiritual peace and spiritual power.

Jesus said: “apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5), and Paul wrote that it is “only God who gives the growth” (1 Cor 3:7) to our ministry labors. A church that believes this will be a praying church.

We should not expect the Lord to bless our ministries in the way that He blessed the ministries of those first Christians if we are not doing what they did: devoting ourselves to prayer, both privately and corporately.

A church that prays together, stays together, but we will never become a praying church until we resolve to be a praying church, so let us resolve to make prayer a priority from this day forward, and may the Lord answer our prayers, emboldening us to live for Him and adding to our number day by day those who are being saved.

You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” (Psalm 27:8)

(See a follow-up article here.)