Text: Acts 1:14-24, 2:41-42, 3:1
Introduction Things looked bleak for the children of George Muller’s orphanage at Ashley Downs in 19th century England. It was time for breakfast, and there was no food. A small girl whose father was a close friend of Muller was visiting in the home. Muller took her hand and said, "Come and see what our Father will do." In the dining room, long tables were set with empty plates and empty mugs. Not only was there no food in the kitchen, but there was no money in the home’s account. Muller prayed, "Dear Father, we thank You for what You are going to give us to eat." Immediately, they heard a knock at the door. When they opened it, there stood the local baker. "Mr. Muller," he said, "I couldn’t sleep last night. Somehow I felt you had no bread for breakfast, so I got up at 2 o’clock and baked fresh bread. Here it is." Muller thanked him and gave praise to God. Soon, a second knock was heard. It was the milkman. His cart had broken down in front of the orphanage. He said he would like to give the children the milk so he could empty the cart and repair it.
We could spend hours recounting similar stories from the life of George Muller, in his own lifetime he was renowned as a man whose prayers could move mountains. He steadfastly refused to ever ask supporters for money declaring instead his intention to allow God to supply the needs of the four orphanages he ran only through prayer. When asked how much time he spent in prayer by some hoping to learn his secret, George Muller’s reply was, "Hours every day. But I live in the spirit of prayer. I pray as I walk and when I lie down and when I arise. And the answers are always coming."
George Muller would have been comfortable with the very first Christian believers who we read about today. The Bible says that "They all joined together constantly in prayer. In other words they made Prayer a Way of Life.
As I mentioned when I introduced this series on prayer, we are living in a time where prayer is very much on our minds. but if you’re like me you’re still learning about prayer--still struggling to understand what it means to Make Prayer a Way of Life.
So this morning I’d like to look at these first four references to prayer in the record of the church and see how these early believers made prayer a part of their daily life. As you look at these passages you may notice that the mention of prayer is almost in passing--a fact which I think further demonstrates that prayer was just a given in their lives.
But I see three specific times or circumstances here that give us a picture of how prayer was a part of their daily lives. Three examples of what it means to pray constantly. The first is at the end of Chapter one. Here we see that they prayed...
When Making Decisions
Acts 1:21- 26 Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection." 23So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. 24Then they prayed, "Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen 25to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs." 26Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.
The great preacher and pastor of Chicago’s famous Moody Church, A.C. Dixon declared, "When we rely upon organization, we get what organization can do; when we rely upon education, we get what education can do; when we rely upon eloquence, we get what eloquence can do, and so on. Nor am I disposed to undervalue any of these things in their proper place, but when we rely upon prayer, we get what God can do."
Planning has its place, reason is required of us when facing decisions. We see that the church when they had a leadership role that needed to be filled took care to establish Godly standards, but ultimately they relied upon God because they knew they needed what God can do.
I’m not reccomending the method that they used, but we need to be aware that it was a method that was used throughout the Old testament for discerning God’s will.
Proverbs 16:33 says "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD."
They were committing this decision to the Lord and then using the accepted protocol for discerning his will. The point for us though is simply that when faced with a decision, the instinct of these people who had been with Jesus was: Let’s pray about it and trust God to guide us.
When we face decisions in our lives, is that our instinct? Do we get on our knees or get on the Internet?
Not that researching a decision is a bad thing--clearly in our text they put some serious thought into it--but then they brought it to the Lord.
I believe that when we face a decision we need to first ask the Lord to help us get smart about it, then get smart about it, then bring it back to the Lord and ask Him to show us the way He wants us to go. I believe that if we ask him he’ll show us--in fact his word promises it:
James 1:5 says "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him."
Prayer as a way of life means first of all that we Pray when making Decisions.
The second specific example of Prayer as a Way of life for the early church is found in Acts Chapter 2
When Making Disciples
Acts 2:41-43 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. 42They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.
For many years Monterey, a California coast town, was a pelican’s paradise. As the fishermen cleaned their fish, they flung the offal to the pelicans. The birds grew fat, lazy, and contented. Eventually, however the offal was utilized, and there were no longer snacks for the pelicans. When the change came the pelicans made no effort to fish for themselves. They waited around and grew gaunt and thin. Many starved to death. They had forgotten how to fish for themselves. The problem was solved by importing new pelicans from the south, birds accustomed to foraging for themselves. They were placed among their starving cousins, and the newcomers immediately started catching fish. Before long, the hungry pelicans followed suit, and the famine was ended. (Bits & Pieces, June 23, 1994, p. 17.)
Jesus Christ came as the ultimate example, to show us what we were meant to be. When He returned to heaven, he gave His followers one mission: Go teach others what I’ve taught you, make disciples, make followers. Well on the day of Pentecost, they started their job in earnest and on that day 3000 trusted in Jesus. How do you take those 3000 from trusting in the work of Christ to pay the price for their sins to being genuine followers of Jesus? You start home fellowship groups! We know that there were about 500 followers of Jesus before the day of Pentecost, now they become the trainers--the example pelicans to show the others how to have fellowship with God. They taught them doctrine, yes, but they also showed them how to pray--because being the people of God means being a people of prayer.
New believers are often unsure about how to pray. We tell them talk to God like you’d talk to a friend, and that’s right, but it’s better to invite them to hear you pray, and little by little to encourage them to pray as you meet together. This is what it MEANS to make disciples. And the school of discipleship is one that we never graduate from which brings us to the final way that we make prayer a way of life...
When Meeting Daily
Acts 3:1-2 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. 2Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.
The story goes on to tell how these praying disciples were able to offer the crippled man not money but healing. But the point I want to note here is that this miracle took place while Peter and John were on their way to a regularly scheduled prayer meeting.
Does prayer as a way of life mean that we take time for private prayer, yes, without question. Does it mean that we should pray as we’re driving down the road and washing dishes and running PT in addition to those private times set aside for prayer? Yes I think it does.
But it also means setting aside time to meet with others for times of Prayer. In both of these last two passages it’s apparent that the new Christians were doing this every day--meeting together both in the temple and in homes at regularly scheduled times. Now I’m not here to make a new law for us to all follow and schedule daily prayer meetings--but I can’t get past this fact: That meeting together not just for worship but for prayer was a part of the pattern established for us by the Lord’s first followers--something they learned from Jesus himself, I’m convinced. If we truly wish to be His followers--if we really desire to live a life of prayer, We need to pray together.
We all know what horsepower is in cars. Originally one horsepower was what you got when you put one horse in front of a buggy. So how many horsepower do you get with two horses in front of the same buggy? If you think it’s two, you’re way off. Even if the horses aren’t trained at running together, you’ll get four or five horsepower. If they’re trained, you can get as much as ten horsepower from two. (http://www.filosofi.ca/newsletters/2003/feb/synergy%20concept.htm)
That’s about the same ratio that the Lord promised to Israel in battle: "Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand (Lev. 26:8)"
Jesus didn’t intend for us to haul the load on our own, he intends for us to multiply our efforts by joining arm in arm with our brothers and sisters, joining not just to labor in our own effort but to join heart to heart in the presence of God in prayer. Jesus said that "if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them (Matt 18:19)."
CONCLUSION So now we have begun our study of prayer. Your homework for this week is to begin this process of making prayer a way of life, by Praying when making decisions, praying when making disciples--training new believers and training your children to pray and Praying when meeting daily--joining with others in prayer.
I’d like to finish with the words of lawyer turned pastor and modern apostle of prayer E.M. Bounds "What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use--men of prayer, men mighty in prayer."
As we seek God’s word to learn how to pray, may we truly become men and women mighty in prayer
