Lord’s Day, Vol. 10 No. 29
Waiting in Prayer
The infant church in Jerusalem received the Great Commission from our Lord Jesus before His ascension to heaven. Fulfilling the Great Commission is Holy Spirit-led. The power that is begotten of the Holy Spirit is received by concerted corporate and personal prayer.
The infant church waited upon the Lord in believing prayer. This can be gleaned from the account in Acts 1:4-14. The first sign of the infant church was that members were being gathered together for corporate prayer meetings. There were various key words “being assembled together – sunalízō”, “they should not depart – chorízō” which are significant to describe the process of rounding the flock of God and keeping them together. Jesus was in the midst of them (Acts 1:4-5, Matthew 18:20).
The word for the phrase “being assembled together” (Acts 1:4, KJV) “sunalízō”, the opposite of “skorpízō”, that is “to scatter” as used in John 10:12 “But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.”
The Apostles whom Jesus has chosen and trained during His time on earth met their Lord in His resurrection body and instructed them to gather the sheep together.
The passive voice of the participle does in a sense show the passive sheep nature, the congregation had to be gathered in and they should not depart (Acts 1:4), but held together by prayer. Our Lord Jesus Christ, Head of the Church (Ephesians 5:23, Colossians 1:18), the Great Shepherd of the sheep (Hebrews 13:20), gathered the core leaders of His flock at the Mount of Olives to witness His ascension, the nucleus of the infant church, were assembled together, where Jesus presented Himself alive attesting to His resurrection life gave them the Great Commission (Acts 1:8).
Jesus was “in the midst of” or “in company with” the disciples (Acts 1:13), physically before His ascension. After His ascension, the Apostles were taught by the Holy Spirit, for the dawning of the church age was also the beginning of the prominence of the Holy Spirit on earth in the fulfilment of God’s redemption plan after Jesus’ ascension. (Acts 1:2, John 14:18 and 26) The Apostles returned from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem.
The infant church began when a core of Jesus’ disciples with others (numbering about a hundred and twenty) Acts 1:15, met together to pray. Acts 1:14 described their manner of prayer, “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.” The phrase “in one accord” is the word where members of the early church join together harmoniously led by the Holy Spirit in prayer to God and in supplication which is primarily a wanting, a need, then an asking, entreaty and supplication. There was an appointed season of united prayer to receive divine directions from the throne of grace where our Lord is, seated at the right hand of God (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 1:3, 8:1, 10:12, 12:2; Acts 2:33-34, Acts 5:31; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1; 1 Peter 3:22).
Surely the disciples were at a loss with the ascension of their leader to heaven but their Lord, the Holy One of Israel, did not leave them without instruction for their guidance, they were to wait in prayer, as the prophet Isaiah aptly recorded in Isaiah 48:14a, 17 “All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; …Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.”
Jesus said in Matthew 28:18 that “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth”. This power is mine, Jesus said and I will give you that power by being with you in Matthew 28:20 “and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” This co-labouring with God is taught by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:6, 9 “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase…For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.” This co-labouring with God begins with prayer. It is the promise taught in Acts 1:4.
The word “continued” means “hold fast to, cling to, persevere in”. Members in the infant church persevered in prayer.
Members of the local church must first begin at the throne of grace, seeking the Lord’s will, guidance and blessing in spiritual unity.
Spiritual men co-labouring with God, subdued by the guidance of the Holy Spirit is spiritual power. In the infant church, there was spiritual unity and harmony, the sincere, earnest and persevering prayers of men and women, ascended up to God as a sweet savour, receiving the Lord’s approval.
The testimony of the infant church was that members were in united prayer in one place the Upper Room (Mark 14:15; Luke 22:12; Acts 1:13) in Jerusalem waiting at the throne of grace for divine blessing and guidance. The Psalmist David in Psalm 32:8, 11 declares the blessings of divine guidance, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye…Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.” On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came in mighty manner, in response to their prayer as God’s reward to the earnest seeker as taught by Jesus on importunate prayer in Luke 11:9-10,13 “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened…If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”
On 15 August 2013, a small group gathered for Blessed Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church’s inaugural Prayer Meeting at the Praise Chapel. On 10 August 2022, in a month’s time, we remember the Lord’s goodness in raising a witness for His glory in this vicinity. This will be our 10th year of prayer. You are invited to come and pray if you have not made a commitment with the Lord to do so. May the Lord strengthen our witness as we continue to wait upon Him in prayer to fulfil the Great Commission. Amen.
Yours lovingly
Pastor Lek Aik Wee