Acts 4:31

Introduction

A pastor from Uganda talked about the great devastation that took place in his country, saying, “Our churches didn’t pray until we had these terrible massacres.” Then he asked us in the audience, “Are you Americans going to seek God because of desperation or will it have to be devastation?”

“A praying church and a praying people makes ALL things possible.”

1. A Praying Church

Jesus gave an incredible priority to prayer, both as an example in His own life, and also in His teaching. The disciples observed this first hand and it carried over into their lives as the book of Acts tells us.

Acts 2:1 – disciples praying in Upper Room and HS comes upon them

Acts 2:42 – early church devoting themselves to prayer and miracles are happening

Acts 4:31 – Disciples pray for boldness and building is shaking

Acts 5:19 – Angel releases Peter and John from prison to preach

Acts 13:1 – Church praying, HS says ‘separate me Paul and Barnabas’

“A praying church is a force to be reckoned with.” Terry Virgo

“Prayer is stressed over and over again in the New Testament as a vital pre-requisite for the release and experience of God’s power.” Philip Hughes

Prayer changes things; Pray makes all things possible, for it links the praying soul to the omnipotence of God.

1. A Praying People

The Puritans spoke of prayer as oiling the wheels of the soul. Prayerlessness is a faith problem.

“Much praying is not done because we do not plan to pray. We do not drift into spiritual life; we do not drift into disciplined prayer. We will not grow in prayer unless we plan to pray. That means we must self-consciously set aside time to do nothing but pray.”

DA Carson

What Prayer Brings:

• Perspective

Prayer in all its forms – adoration, confession, thanksgiving and petition – reorients your view and vision of everything.

Prayer brings new perspective because it puts God back into the picture.

When we see or experience things we don’t understand we can become angry, bitter or envious, Prayer reorients us to see God in the midst of every situation.

“Prayer brings perspective, shows the big picture, gets you out of the weeds, reorients you to where you really are.” Tim Keller

• Strength

Prayer is spiritual union with God. Prayer is a means of energy.

“Prayer is the powerful appropriation of power, of divine power.” PT Forsyth

• Spiritual Reality

“Prayer is steeped in the awareness, often an awe-filled awareness, of the presence of God.” E. Clowney

When we pray we do not just believe in the glory of God, we sense his greatness. We don’t just believe he loves us; we find our hearts are flooded with it.

When you and I pray, we enter into the presence of God!

• Pray! Pray! Pray!

Let us not just talk about prayer, let’s do it! Let us repent of our prayerlessness, our lack of faith, our lack of discipline and laziness and renew ourselves to begin to pray!