Devoted Prayer
“They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” (Acts 2:42)
Prayer has been defined as “pouring our hearts out to God.” (New City Catechism, Question 38) I like the definition of prayer we typically use that says, “prayer is intentionally conveying a message to God.” There is a sense in which the believer should “pray without ceasing.” (1 Thess. 5:17) That indicates a heart and mind posture that is conscious of God, our relationship with Him, and our dependence upon Him every waking moment.
But when we think and talk about prayer we are usually talking about those moments when we are wanting to intentionally communicate with God. We want to develop in the lives of every believer a desire and habit of being devoted to prayer. This is how the early church was functioning in Acts 2. We do not know exactly what the habit or practice of that devotion looked like, but we know that as Luke observed the church in its birth, he described their attitude of prayer as one of devotion.
In Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, the word “devoted” is defined as, “Appropriated by vow; solemnly set apart or dedicated; consecrated; addicted; given up; doomed; consigned.”
Substitute those words or phrases into Acts 2:42 and it fills up the idea of devotion in ways perhaps you have not ever thought about. “They were continually appropriating by vow…to prayer,” or “They were continually given up…to prayer,” or “They were continually doomed…to prayer.”
The Bible gives us lots of instruction on prayer. The word “pray” shows up 352 times in the NASB95 English version of the Bible. “Prayer” shows us another 195 times. In general, the Bible tells us to pray with an attitude of love, perseverance, and gratefulness. Jesus was often found praying. His life of prayer was so compelling that His disciples asked him to teach them to pray. They had grown up hearing the prayers of the Rabbi’s and the prayers of their mothers and fathers. They had probably all prayed themselves.
But something about Jesus praying to the Father compelled them to want to pray like He did. In Luke 11:1-13 shows this encounter. Jesus gives them a model prayer and then gives them two illustrations that reveals the necessity of perseverance and the gladness of God’s response to those who seek Him.
Church, there is much to learn about prayer in the Bible. We are providing a night of prayer once per month in 2025 so that we can learn more on prayer by the practice of prayer, and so we can encourage one another to be devoted to prayer. Join us in becoming “addicted to prayer.”
By His Grace and For His Glory,
Pastor Mark
