February 28th, 2023
As we discussed last week, the purpose of prayer is to unite heaven and earth. Jesus taught His people to pray “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done” and the effect of that kind of prayer is power. The beautiful thing about it, though, is that even our prayer is not meant to be in our own strength. Romans 8:26 says,
“Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And He who searches hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
When we don’t know exactly what to pray, God has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit to teach us how to pray. That is why praying in our language and in the Spirit is so important in the life of the believer. 1 Corinthians 14:15 says,
“What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.”
After forty days of fasting and praying in the wilderness, Jesus did not come out weak and broken. He came out in the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:14). The Holy Spirit didn’t lead Jesus to isolation in the wilderness in prayer, forever. Jesus didn’t go into the synagogue and spend His whole life interceding for the lost, sick, and broken. He fasted and prayed in the wilderness and then He came out in power, and went and touched the lost, sick, and broken. He maintained a life of prayer and intimacy with God, but He didn’t pray and then not touch the people His Father loved. Prayer was not a substitute for His ministry. It was the fuel that filled Him and mobilized Him to carry out His Father’s will on the earth.
Jesus said,
“The Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all that He Himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.” (John 5:19-20)
Jesus Himself said that He did nothing He didn’t first see His Father doing. I believe this was only possible because of the time He spent communing with His Father in prayer. If Jesus was completely dependent on His Father, even though He is the perfect seed of God, how much more dependent should we be? John 14:12-14 says,
“Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
Jesus has gone to His Father, and we have the promise that we can do greater works than even He did, if we ask the Father in His name. This truth has to be borne in prayer. As Jesus was completely dependent on His Father and enacted His will as it was revealed to Him, so it should be for us. Prayer is essential in the life of the believer because it opens our hearts to the will of our Father. The inevitable result will be mobilization.
After the Holy Spirit came in the book of Acts, the Bible tells us that the believers were devoted, or given, to prayer, but the result of that corporate prayer was such mighty evangelism that they “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6).
In Acts 4, there is a fully recorded corporate prayer after Peter and John were questioned before the authorities for the healing of a crippled man at the gate called Beautiful. The end of the prayer was,
“Now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” (Acts 29-30)
The Bible goes on to tell us the result of their prayer:
“When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31)
The place they prayed was physically shaken, they were filled, and then they were sent, speaking the Word of God with boldness, and seeing mighty miracles.
So often in today’s culture of Christianity, our prayers are for the lost, for the sick, and for the broken. However, this isn’t the pattern we see in Scripture. They prayed to be filled with Him, so they could go reach the lost, heal the sick, and touch the broken. His hand was stretched out to heal and signs and wonders were performed in the name of Jesus, through them.
We have a more modern example of this reality. The longest recorded prayer meeting in church history began in 1727 with a small group of Christians called Moravians. Their community was small and in turmoil, but they committed to praying in one-hour increments to see round-the clock prayer. This unprecedented prayer meeting would continue for over a century. The Moravian prayer movement is not well known, but what is even less well known is the fact that their community became the first missionary movement out of Europe.
In 1732, the first two Moravian missionaries sold themselves into slavery, because it was the only way they would be allowed to reach the slaves of the West Indies. They were tradesmen and reportedly skilled speakers, ready to give their lives for the Gospel, if necessary. History records that as their ship departed, they lifted up a cry that would echo in the Moravian community for decades:
“May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering.”
Their cry echoes Revelation 5:12:
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”
By 1771, roughly 65 years after the Moravian prayer movement started, over 300 missionaries had been launched all over the world— Greenland, Turkey, Africa, the West Indies, South America, and the colonies that would become the United States. 300 missionaries may not sound like many, but that was actually more people than were even in their small village when they began their round-the-clock prayer meeting.
They became a modern-day picture of the book of Acts. The Moravian people didn’t intend to start a missionary movement but a prayer meeting. However, that prayer birthed in them a burden for the people God loves. That’s God’s heart. Jesus didn’t spend His life in prayer only. He intends for us to pray and commune with Him, see His will for our lives and the people around us, and then walk in the fullness of that purpose. Love for God will lead us to prayer, and prayer will mobilize us to love His people. Passion for the lamb will inevitably lead us to the ones He loves. To conclude this week, I want to ask you what’s been burning in my own heart:
Are the lives we’re living worth Jesus dying?
Does the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering in us?
“Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And He who searches hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
When we don’t know exactly what to pray, God has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit to teach us how to pray. That is why praying in our language and in the Spirit is so important in the life of the believer. 1 Corinthians 14:15 says,
“What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.”
After forty days of fasting and praying in the wilderness, Jesus did not come out weak and broken. He came out in the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:14). The Holy Spirit didn’t lead Jesus to isolation in the wilderness in prayer, forever. Jesus didn’t go into the synagogue and spend His whole life interceding for the lost, sick, and broken. He fasted and prayed in the wilderness and then He came out in power, and went and touched the lost, sick, and broken. He maintained a life of prayer and intimacy with God, but He didn’t pray and then not touch the people His Father loved. Prayer was not a substitute for His ministry. It was the fuel that filled Him and mobilized Him to carry out His Father’s will on the earth.
Jesus said,
“The Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all that He Himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.” (John 5:19-20)
Jesus Himself said that He did nothing He didn’t first see His Father doing. I believe this was only possible because of the time He spent communing with His Father in prayer. If Jesus was completely dependent on His Father, even though He is the perfect seed of God, how much more dependent should we be? John 14:12-14 says,
“Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
Jesus has gone to His Father, and we have the promise that we can do greater works than even He did, if we ask the Father in His name. This truth has to be borne in prayer. As Jesus was completely dependent on His Father and enacted His will as it was revealed to Him, so it should be for us. Prayer is essential in the life of the believer because it opens our hearts to the will of our Father. The inevitable result will be mobilization.
After the Holy Spirit came in the book of Acts, the Bible tells us that the believers were devoted, or given, to prayer, but the result of that corporate prayer was such mighty evangelism that they “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6).
In Acts 4, there is a fully recorded corporate prayer after Peter and John were questioned before the authorities for the healing of a crippled man at the gate called Beautiful. The end of the prayer was,
“Now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” (Acts 29-30)
The Bible goes on to tell us the result of their prayer:
“When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31)
The place they prayed was physically shaken, they were filled, and then they were sent, speaking the Word of God with boldness, and seeing mighty miracles.
So often in today’s culture of Christianity, our prayers are for the lost, for the sick, and for the broken. However, this isn’t the pattern we see in Scripture. They prayed to be filled with Him, so they could go reach the lost, heal the sick, and touch the broken. His hand was stretched out to heal and signs and wonders were performed in the name of Jesus, through them.
We have a more modern example of this reality. The longest recorded prayer meeting in church history began in 1727 with a small group of Christians called Moravians. Their community was small and in turmoil, but they committed to praying in one-hour increments to see round-the clock prayer. This unprecedented prayer meeting would continue for over a century. The Moravian prayer movement is not well known, but what is even less well known is the fact that their community became the first missionary movement out of Europe.
In 1732, the first two Moravian missionaries sold themselves into slavery, because it was the only way they would be allowed to reach the slaves of the West Indies. They were tradesmen and reportedly skilled speakers, ready to give their lives for the Gospel, if necessary. History records that as their ship departed, they lifted up a cry that would echo in the Moravian community for decades:
“May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering.”
Their cry echoes Revelation 5:12:
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”
By 1771, roughly 65 years after the Moravian prayer movement started, over 300 missionaries had been launched all over the world— Greenland, Turkey, Africa, the West Indies, South America, and the colonies that would become the United States. 300 missionaries may not sound like many, but that was actually more people than were even in their small village when they began their round-the-clock prayer meeting.
They became a modern-day picture of the book of Acts. The Moravian people didn’t intend to start a missionary movement but a prayer meeting. However, that prayer birthed in them a burden for the people God loves. That’s God’s heart. Jesus didn’t spend His life in prayer only. He intends for us to pray and commune with Him, see His will for our lives and the people around us, and then walk in the fullness of that purpose. Love for God will lead us to prayer, and prayer will mobilize us to love His people. Passion for the lamb will inevitably lead us to the ones He loves. To conclude this week, I want to ask you what’s been burning in my own heart:
Are the lives we’re living worth Jesus dying?
Does the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering in us?
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