PRAYER POWER UNLIMITED

J. Oswald Sanders

Power in United Prayer

With one accord (Acts 4:24)

“No great spiritual awakening has begun anywhere in the world apart from united prayer — Christians persistently praying for revival.”¹ Such is the dictum of J. Edwin Orr, one of the world’s authorities on the subject of revival, and it is a lesson for the Church of our day.

Both Scripture and experience unite to indicate that there is cumulative power in united praying. Faith is infectious, and infection spreads where numbers congregate. Unbelief, on the other hand, thrives more readily in isolation. A single stick can kindle a fire only with great difficulty. Was it not at a united prayer meeting that the power of Pentecost was unleashed?

When a number of Christians unite in prayer for a given person or objective, it is the uniform teaching of scripture that this brings special spiritual power into operation, for their gathering demonstrates that oneness that God delights to see and acknowledge. Did Jesus not pray, “Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, the name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are” (John 17:11)?

A MODEL PRAYER MEETING

We are introduced to a model meeting for united prayer in Acts 4:23-31. This historic gathering illustrates the effect of united prayer and has valuable lessons for succeeding generations.

So influential had the preaching of the apostles been that the Jewish leaders sensed a dangerous challenge to their authority. But because they feared the reactions of the people who were praising God for what had happened, they refrained from punishing the apostles as they wished to do. Having gone as far as they dared, they commanded Peter and John not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus — a limitation the two men refused to accept. So after threatening Peter and John further, the Jewish leaders released them.

The freed men naturally gravitated to their friends, who were doubtless congregated in the upper room, and reported their tilt with the hierarchy. Sensing the potential seriousness of the situation, the whole group gave themselves to prayer. We may learn a great deal from the content and spirit of their petitions. Note some of the ingredients that made that meeting so effective.

1. They were one in heart. “They lifted their voices to God with one accord” (v 24). Prayer thrives where thee is a spirit of love, unity, and fellowship.
2. They called to mind the majesty and power of the Lord to whom they were praying (v 24). As they considered the activity of God in creation and providence, their faith and confidence in Him were strengthened.
3. They acknowledged the sovereignty of God in His power over the nations (vv 25-28) and confidently expected Him to intervene in their crisis.
4. They relied on the truthfulness and authority of the Scriptures (vv 25-28). They based their pleas on the revealed truth of God.
5. They pled their relationship to Christ, and sought that His glory alone would be advanced through the wonders taking place in His name (v 30).
6. They offered specific requests rather than a general petition (vv 29-30):
   a. Take note of their threats.
   b. Grant Your servants boldness and confidence in preaching the Word. In view of the very real danger with which they were confronted, they might well have asked that they might be excused from preaching. Instead they asked for extra grace and power to be able to preach more effectively.
   c. Extend Your hand to heal.
   d. Give signs and wonders in the name of Your Holy Servant, Jesus.
7. Their prayers were answered by a supernatural demonstration of power. “The place where they had gathered together was shaken” (v 31). God was pleased, in those early and testing days for His Church, to grant extraordinary signs to authenticate its supernatural origin.
8. They all received the spiritual equipment for which they prayed. “They were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak the Word of God with boldness” (v 31). A new crisis demanded a fresh filling of the Spirit — a timeless principle. They received exactly what they asked and believed for.
9. They directed this fresh enduement of the Spirit into fresh service for their Master (vv 31-35), and their ministry was with great power.
10. The united prayer meeting fostered a deeper spirit of fellowship and sharing. “Not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own; but all things were common property to them” (v 32).

Powerful prayer meetings such as this are by no means confined to the apostolic era. Dr. Jonathan Goforth was greatly used by God in revival work in China and Korea. Dr. Walter Phillips described one of his meetings:

At once on entering one was conscious of something unusual. The place was crowded and tense, reverent attention was on every face. The singing was vibrant with new joy and vigor. People knelt for prayer, silent at first, but soon one and another began to pray aloud. The voices gathered volume and soon blended into a great wave of united supplication that swelled and died down again into an undertone of weeping. Now I understood why the floor was so wet — wet with pools of tears.
Then above the sobbing, in strained chocking tones, a man began to make confession. Words of mine would fail to describe the awe and terror and pity of these confessions. It was not so much the enormity of the sins disclosed, or the depths of the iniquity sounded, that shocked one. It was the agony of the penitent, his voice shaken with sobs.

The aftermath of these meetings demonstrated that the activity of the Spirit of God in response to the united prayers of His people.

PRAYER

Almighty God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto Thee, and dost promise that when two or three are gathered together in Thy Name, Thou wilt grant their requests; Fulfill now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of Thy servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of Thy truth, and in the world to come, life everlasting. CHRYSOSTOM

QUESTIONS

1. What lessons can you learn from the united prayer meeting of Acts 12:1-16?
2. Is united prayer more effectual than the prayer of people praying separately? Can you suggest reasons?

Note

J. E. Orr, Prayer, Its Deeper Dimensions (London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1963) p 21