Several days this week my devotionals were based on Acts 4:23–31. The titles of those devotionals were: The Necessity of Prayer; The Vision of Prayer; The Priority of Prayer; The Agenda of Prayer; and, The Power of Prayer. Chris Tiegreen is the author of the daily devotional books I read each year and I just loved some of the points he made in these 5 devotionals. So I hope you’ll forgive me for quoting a lot of the things he said along with my own thoughts.
I believe that we should desire to be successful in all that we put our hands to. But too much of the time we tend to rely on ourselves and our own abilities alone – forgetting that we have a support system like no other – we have a heavenly Father that desires to help us and rejoices with us as we have successes. So rather than striking out each day in our own power, we should start with a time set aside to read God’s Word and pray, always asking for His guidance in all that we do.
The Necessity of Prayer talked about this: “…prayers and…works are inseparable – We forget that sometimes. We pray a little and work a lot, then wonder why God hasn’t blessed our efforts.” “Take a look at what prompted the first missionary journey in Acts 13:2-3. It was the voice of the Spirit in response to worship and prayer.” * Pray first!
The Vision of Prayer talked about this: We need to stop praying small prayers, as though God can only do small things – we need to pray big prayers. Remember: “God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.” (Ephesians 3:20 MSG) This was the big prayer that the apostles prayed: “‘Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.’” (Acts 4:30 NLT) No small thinking or praying there! And that same power is available to us today. God is not less powerful now than He was then.
The Priority of Prayer talked about this: “We’ve all heard it before; many of us have even said it. It usually comes after all efforts have been tried and all ideas exhausted. It is almost a statement of despair, when hope is fading fast; ‘All we can do now is pray.’” * I have to confess that I have to plead guilty of having used that phrase. Are we making our prayers a last resort? Why do we do that? We should always reach out to God in prayer FIRST! In Acts 4:24a when the believers heard how Peter and John had been ordered to stay quiet about Jesus, this was their reaction: “When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God.” (NLT) They didn’t dilly dally around to see what was going to happen when they continued to go about the business of preaching about Jesus – they prayed! As John Blanchard said: “We need more Christians for whom prayer is the first resort, not the last.”
The Agenda of Prayer talked about this: It emphasized how our desire should be to fulfill our role in God’s mission. It’s definitely okay to take our personal needs and the needs of others to Him – He respects and honors those prayers; however, we should desire to find out what His agenda is for us and pray accordingly. The apostles knew what their agenda was and they prayed this: “‘Lord, listen to their threats! We are your servants. So make us brave enough to speak your message.’” (Acts 4:29 CEV) We really do need to make that our prayer each day too!
The Power of Prayer was the one that blessed me the most by talking about where we stand in the world and what we can do about it. Our enemy – Satan – works hard to defeat us as we work to do what we should each day. The cares of this world can easily get us down because it seems that it’s such a hostile environment so much of the time – and getting worse every day. But we need to never forget: “Children, you belong to God, and you have defeated these enemies. God’s Spirit is in you and is more powerful than the one who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4 CEV) When we start feeling defeated, it can be easy to forget this so if you have to write that verse on a card and put it where you can frequently see it, then do it.
“When the authorities of this world stand against us, as they did with Peter and John, we can appeal to a higher authority. Prayer is a mighty weapon…It’s easy to take prayer for granted. It’s so commonly encouraged and God is so readily accessible that we treat prayer like a favor we do for Him: it becomes trivial to us. But, the right to communicate with God was bought with a heavy price, and there’s nothing trivial about it. It is a privilege, and it is powerful. It is the most effective thing a Christian can do.” *
So let’s be determined to take the necessity, the vision, the priority, the agenda and the power of prayer seriously. I believe it’s a game changer and we will see great things happening if we just stay with it and not give in or give up. Pray as though your life depends on it – it’s where our power lies!
Written by Karran Martin – July 22, 2023
* Quotes by Chris Tiegreen
[All bold emphasis is mine]
Karran's Korner 