“When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) … .” -Acts 1:13-15

A Pattern of Growth

God lovers, my mind has been pondering this first chapter of Acts so deeply. I am grateful the Spirit of God has put us on this track together this year. One of the most profound themes I have discovered is the believer’s movement from observation to obedience. It has been reverberating in my heart. For a few years, those who followed Jesus listened and observed, wide-eyed and captivated. Their observation transformed them more than they knew. After the resurrection, we find them again in a place of receiving from, learning from, and observing Jesus for 40 more days. Then, Jesus ascends to Heaven, and the words of His command to return to Jersualem and wait compels them to this upper room. All gathered together, they pray and worship earnestly with an expectation that something is coming. It’s so interesting that they are compelled to intimacy with Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit in the place of prayer. They weren’t doing a teaching segment, strategy session, vision meeting, or debrief of the last 40 days with Jesus. They were simply preparing themselves for what was promised to come (which they had absolutely no clue of).

The Power of United Prayer

Divinely positioned between the space of observation and obedience was prayer—fervent, worshiping, unifying, constant prayer. It doesn’t say how long this time lasted. Was it hours, days, or weeks? Nonetheless, they didn’t leave this space with the Lord and with one another. Their waiting was targeted, it was intentional, and it was preparatory. There was much more happening to them individually and as a body as they remained in constant prayer. (We will see this theme throughout Acts!) In fact, the Greek word for “together” is homothumadon from homo (same) and thumos (passion). The unity of believers to be positioned for the outpouring of the promised Holy Spirit at Pentecost would be prepared in this intimate time of prayer. Something needed to be prepared in them first that could only happen as they gathered together as one.

It is in this same spirit of unity, intimacy, longing, and waiting that we are pressing in for 72 continuous hours together as followers of Jesus this month. Beginning at midnight on January 29, we are taking 30-minute time slots to intentionally prepare ourselves for our own personal outpouring of the Spirit in this season. We will pray for revival in the U.S. and around the world, and we will pray for the unity of the Church. If you receive this devotional, this is your personal invitation from me to meet us in the upper room and join our voices together in worship, prayer, and intercession. Please take a moment to choose at least one time slot. Almost 4,000 people receive this devotional, so there will be multiple people at all time slots. We will email the prayer points to you upon your sign-up.

Before we move in strategy and vision personally, missionally, vocationally, etc., we must be prepared and prepare from this place of prayer. Pentecost didn’t happen first and then they prayed. The crucial order of observation, prayer, and obedience is modeled so beautifully in these Christ followers. Their waiting together in constant worship and prayer made the ground of their own hearts ready for radical obedience!

The Meaning of Waiting

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” -Isaiah 40:31, KJV

Let’s parallel this word from the Old Testament. The word “wait” in this particular passage in Isaiah has a beautiful meaning! The Hebrew word means to bind together, to expect, gather together, wait upon. When we wait upon the Lord, we get entangled or tied together with Him—His heart, His purposes, and His presence. When we do this together with other believers, we move in lock step unity with one heart and one purpose, and in expectation together. In order to fulfill the final words of Jesus’ commission to His people to “‘go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19)’” and be witnesses to the ends of the Earth (Acts 1:8), this place of prayer with other believers is crucial. We learn to strategize plans without prayer, and it must be in the reverse order. Acts 1 shows us this so beautifully!

God lovers, can we throw off busyness and distraction and ask the Lord to shift our hearts to desire this same place of prayer the early church desired? Do you have people in your life who will go to the upper room with you and worship and pray till the Spirit of God moves? It’s time to return to our roots.

The Church as It Was Meant to Be

God lovers, can we throw off busyness and distraction and ask the Lord to shift our hearts to desire this same place of prayer the early church desired? Do you have people in your life who will go to the upper room with you and worship and pray till the Spirit of God moves? It’s time to return to our roots.

“It is impossible to spend several months in close study of this remarkable short book … without being profoundly stirred and, to be honest, disturbed. The reader is stirred because he is seeing Christianity, the real thing, in action for the first time in human history. The newborn Church, as vulnerable as any human child, having neither money, influence nor power in the ordinary sense, is setting forth joyfully and courageously to win the pagan world for God through Christ. … Yet we cannot help feeling disturbed as well as moved, for this surely is the Church as it was meant to be. It is vigorous and flexible, for these are the days before it ever became fat and short of breath through prosperity, or muscle-bound by overorganization. These men did not make ‘acts of faith,’ they believed; they did not ‘say their prayers’ they really prayed. They did not hold conferences on psychosomatic medicine, they simply healed the sick. But if they are uncomplicated and naive by modern standards, we have ruefully to admit that they were open on the God-ward side in a way that is almost unknown today.” -J. B. Phillips, “The Young Church in Action”

I will meet you in the upper room January 29-31 as we gather together for 72 hours of prayer. Sign up to reserve your 30-minute spot!

A Few Key Notes

• Love your neighbor and join us in sharing about Jesus during Dallas Harvest Day! We will teach you how to share the gospel and then go and evangelize together. Meet at La Victoria, 1605 N. Haskell Ave., Dallas, TX 75204, at 9 a.m. on Saturday, February 3. Tell us you’re coming by emailing [email protected].
• If you have a heart for intercession and want to be a part of a team that petitions the throne for God to move, join the Arise Prayer Team! Discover a rich community and grow your prayer life. We meet every Monday over Zoom.