Sermon series: When the Church Prays
The Priority of Praying Together - Acts 6:1-5
The Critical Mass That Unleashes God’s Will - Revelation 8:1-5
Why We Believe Better Than We Behave Concerning Prayer - James 4:1-2
Principles for a Powerful Prayer Meeting, Part 1 - Acts 12:1-11
Principles for a Powerful Prayer Meeting, Part 2 - Acts 12:1-11
The Great Awakening - Romans 1:18; Joel 2
Scriptures: Acts 12:1-11
Introduction
In part 1 of this 2-part sermon, I raised examples from Scripture and history of powerful prayer meetings, and then set about describing what the Bible unfolds as characteristics or principles for a powerful prayer meeting. The first and primary mark of a prayer meeting to which God responds in power is God-Focus, which we looked at under two headings.
The first is tune to God's agenda, a call to align our praying to Kingdom issues and not just our issues. A prayer written by a Puritan believer in the 15th Century captured this: "Sovereign Lord, Thy cause, not my own, engages my heart, and I appeal to Thee with greatest freedom to set up Thy kingdom in every place where Satan reigns." (From The Valley of Vision, p. 177) We are so instinctively "me-centered" in our thinking and praying that it will take discipline and alertness to drive it from our prayers. Until we do, we will not receive what we ask because, as James 4:3 points out, you ask wrongly, to spend it on your desires.
The second aspect of God-Focus is to follow God's lead. We asked why the praying of Elijah and Moses, of Joshua and Jesus and Paul was so infused with confidence about something seemingly impossible that they sometimes announced before the prayer that it would take place. How could they be so sure that God would answer their prayers?
And we pointed out that they had paid the price of time in God's Word and prayer so that they had come to know the heart and intent of God. They began to see life from His perspective rather than their own. Fervent prayer coursed through their spiritual veins in intimacy with the Father.
So when a situation came up, they did what they always do-they sought the Lord until they knew what He was doing and why He was doing it. They understood God's will in the matter and asked Him in prayer to do what He wanted to do. Therefore, they saw the power of God in response to their prayers. This is the very essence of what the Bible means by walking with God, without which we will not know what God's will or what to ask Him.
God-focus in prayer beckons us to this kind of lifestyle. What I hope happened for you this morning was not that you left with an "I should pray more" attitude as much as an "I must have God's help" frame of mind. I will tell you that every time in Scripture and history that the church takes on this kind of focus, they saw the power of God break forth in individual lives, in small groups, in churches and cities and at times the entire nation.
Now, I want to round out the rest of what we can discern from the pages of Scripture.
I. Principle 2: Deep koinonia
There are three episodes from the life of the Early Church that I want to show you. In each scene, a common reality emerges that sets the stage for power in prayer.
Acts 2:42-47
Acts 4:32-35
Acts 5:12-16, 41-42
In each instance, believers are loving one another. They shared their possessions, cared for those struggling financially among them, met daily in one another's homes and in the temple, were together in one accord, and brought out the sick and demon-possessed. As a result, the Lord added daily those who were being saved, filled them with great power, great grace was upon them all, and they were all healed.
If the foundational principle of powerful prayer meetings in the church is God-focus, the second principle flows from it: it is deep, authentic, loving fellowship among God's people. John Franklin concluded from his study of how the believers in Acts cared for one another that "God worked in their lives in proportion to the degree of their koinonia, the quality of love between believers. Their favor with God flowed from His pleasure in their depth of fellowship." (John Franklin, And The Place Was Shaken, p. 40.)
All of us sense the need and the value of this principle in prayer. We want people in our lives who truly care. Years ago, when speaker of the house Sam Rayburn heard he had terminal cancer, he shocked everyone when he announced he was going back to his small town in Bonham, Texas. People said to him: "They have got the finest facilities in Washington, D. C. Why go back to that little town?" Rayburn's response resonates with something inside us all. He said, "Because in Bonham, Texas, they know if you're sick, and they care when you die." (Submitted by J. R. Love, Ruston, Louisiana, PreachingToday.com.)
You and I will pray with more fervency when we can trust those with whom we're praying. And trust is built when our lives brush up against one another; when we share our burdens and troubles, and we walk the hard miles together. This is why small groups are increasingly a key element in our church's life. We simply don't have time to build close, open, honest relationships in an hour on Sunday. The second principle that fuels fervent, effective praying together is being real, binding wounds, and sharing our stories with one another so that care rises. Without it, our praying together will be surface only, and our pleading will be restrained.
II. Principle 3: Clean hearts
We highlighted this principle last week, but it bears repeating in this context. God has always required a right heart from those to whom He will reveal Himself. All who miss this point miss God. In the first pages of Scripture this was established. In Gen. 4, Cain and Abel bring their offerings to God. The Bible reports that God respected Abel and his offerings, but He did not respect Cain and his offerings. The Bible makes it plain that God's accepting or rejecting of their offering followed His acceptance or rejection of the person making the offering. God's willingness to respond was directly linked to the condition of the heart of the one worshipping.
What was established in this early incident rings true throughout Scripture: God answers an individual or a church in proportion to how they are walking with Him. He never differentiates between the thing requested and the one making the request. Another way to say that is this: God doesn't just answer prayer; He answers you.
A classic example of this occurred in a prayer meeting in the Hebrides Islands off the coast of Scotland. Christians there had been imploring God for some time to send revival and awakening. Finally, during a Friday night prayer meeting, a youth of sixteen prayed from Ps. 24: 3Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? 4 The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not set his mind on what is false, and who has not sworn deceitfully. He then began to ask God if his heart was pure.
Others in the room began to inspect their walk with God, to confess their sins, and to renew a right relationship with God. God began at that moment to transform those islands. In fact, as they were praying God woke up most of the town at midnight, and they gathered at the village square asking how to be saved. Once the hearts of those Christians were cleansed, God worked mightily through them.
It has been my observation as a pastor who has served churches that have two worship services of similar format that one would be Spirit-filled, vibrant, the hearts of all responsive, while the other service-with the same music, same singers, same message-was cold, flat, and unresponsive. For years as a pastor, I puzzled over this. And then God's Word made plain what the difference was. The spiritual condition of the hearts of those in attendance affected the freedom of the Spirit of God to work. The psalmist was absolutely right when he said, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." (Ps. 66:18, KJV) You help or hinder the movement of God's Spirit in accordance to the depth of your repentance.
III. Principle 4: One accord
Five times in the first five chapters of Acts, the Bible tells us that the disciples were in "one accord." Each time, it's the Greek word "homothumadon," a compound word that basically means "same passion, combined heat, shared glow." There was among them a mutual experience of the same burning heart, the same heart passion. This ardor of heart unity, fellowship, and agreement in purpose, desire, attitude and action marked the dynamic nature of their praying together.
How important was unity to Jesus? In the last moments with His disciples, He prayed earnestly for that oneness. Listen to His heart-cry to the Father, not just for those immediate disciples, but for you and me: 20 I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in Me through their message. 21 May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You. May they also be one in Us, so the world may believe You sent Me. 22 I have given them the glory You have given Me. May they be one as We are one. 23 I am in them and You are in Me. May they be made completely one, so the world may know You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me. (John 17:20-23)
We reflect God's glory to the lost and hallow God's name through our loving, selfless, servantlike attitudes toward one another. This harmony is directly connected to God's manifest presence and power in the pages of Scripture. God reserves some of His strongest words for those that traffic in discord (Prov. 6:16). Paul issued this call to the church in Ephesus 4: 1 I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, accepting one another in love, 3 diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with the peace that binds [us]. May we make that call our pursuit as we move closer to what God intended when He called us "a house of prayer."