What happened when the first Christians gathered for prayer – Praying together, Part 2

In the previous post, we observed the prayer meeting the followers of Jesus held right after he ascended back to his father in heaven. The book of Acts tells us that at the 10-14 mark of their nonstop prayer meeting, something powerful happened.  Look at Acts chapter 2, verses 1-4:

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

They were still together when the Holy Spirit showed up, filled and empowered them for ministry.  Their commitment to gathering for prayer was the prerequisite for empowerment of the Spirit.  I’m not saying that we won’t have empowerment of the Spirit if we don’t gather for prayer.  I’m not saying that the Bible is telling us to have 10-14 day long prayer meetings or else we are going to be a failing church.  I’m simply asking you to observe what was important to the first Christians: praying together, and then the Spirit arrived. 

Now empowered by the Spirit, the first Christians concluded their prayer meeting, and they went outside, proclaiming the good news about Jesus to the people in the city of Jerusalem. We read in Acts 2, verse 41 that 3000 people were added to the church that day.

With that many people, they couldn’t possibly continue meeting to pray together could they?  Maybe their practice of gathering for prayer was temporary, only for those early days, because now the Holy Spirit had arrived.  God had answered their prayer.  They don’t need to pray anymore, do they? 

Jump ahead in Acts chapter 2 to verses 42-47.  What do we notice?  Let me read it to you:

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. … Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

After the Holy Spirit fills the church for ministry, after they experience fantastic growth, what do they do?  They do many things, but notice verse 42.  They devoted themselves to prayer.  They had previously been devoted to prayer, and now they continue to be devoted to prayer.  Prayer was a primary focus for them. 

Also look at the description of their meetings.  They met in the temple courts, which had space enough for a large group.  They also met in homes, which were small groups.  It is no stretch whatsoever to envision those first Christians meeting together, whether in the temple courts or in homes, and praying together.

If you skip ahead to Acts chapter 4 verse 4, the author of Acts tells us that the church now numbered 5000 men.  We’ve seen the church grow from 120, to 3000, and now to 5000 men, which when you add the women and children, could easily be a couple thousand more than that.  Do they keep praying?  Don’t they have to focus on creating an organizational structure for all those people?  Don’t they need to spend most of their time teaching all the new people who have joined them?  Don’t they need to create ministries and programs for the people?  Doesn’t it seem as though gathering for prayer would need to make space for many other activities in the life of the church?

We’ll find out in the next post.

Photo by Pedro Lima on Unsplash