The early church did not consider prayer simply a “good thing”. They thought that it was the main thing! The Christians in the book of Acts realized that they were dependent on God and that prayer was their connection to God. As we examine just a few of the sections of the book of Acts that mention prayer, we will discover just how important prayer was to them. And hopefully we will be encouraged to make prayer a greater emphasis in the church today.

As they obeyed Jesus by waiting in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit (1:4-8), the Bible says, “They all joined together constantly in prayer…” (1:24). They weren’t content to wait passively. They were proactive. They prayed. If you find yourself in a season of waiting for something, remember to pray as you wait.

When the apostles felt the need to replace the departed Judas with someone to fill the position of his apostolic ministry, they prayed. Before any congregation places someone in an important position, they should make sure that they pray for God’s will to be done.

The early believers devoted themselves to several religious activities, such as: the word of God, the fellowship of the church, the Lord’s Supper and yes, you guessed it—prayer (2:42). It was in great part due to this devotion to prayer that the early church had such great success. The success of the church today, or the lack thereof, will be largely dependent on prayer.

When Peter and John were jailed for preaching the gospel, the church prayed for the ability to speak the word of God with great boldness. “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” (4:31). Sadly, this does not describe the typical prayer meeting today! Oh, that we would recapture the fervent, heartfelt, spiritual prayers that enable believers to speak boldly as we proclaim the word of God!

In Acts 6, we see a problem arise concerning the neglect of certain widows in the church. The apostles were not willing to neglect their primary ministry to attend to the situation themselves. They had others assume that responsibility while they gave their attention to prayer and the ministry of the word. This decision led to an increased spread of the word of God and the church grew rapidly (6:1-7). If church leaders of today would make prayer a priority, and teach their members the importance of prayer, the church would prosper greatly.

Now that we have examined just a few of the teachings about prayer in the book of Acts, perhaps we will be inspired to be more devoted to biblical prayer and encourage other believers to do the same.