PRAY UNTIL

God did amazing things in the early church. But prayer is the prelude to all that God was doing. They had been together for ten days, praying, when the Day of Pentecost changed everything. And in those wonderful first days in Jerusalem, when miracles were taking place and they were devoting themselves to so much, in the midst of the description is this detail: "all the believers met together constantly . . . They worshiped togehter at the Temple each day . . . and each day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved." Meeting together for worship and prayer was a key ingredient to daily conversions. I think I am beginning to see a glimpse of why that is true. Prayer changes things. Starting with the one who prays.

Here's what God has been showing me in the last week: If I pray for a time, God reveals the core of a problem to me. I am tempted to stop at that point, and to try to fix things myself. But I must continue to pray until God shows me my role in the solution to the problem. It is not enough for me to merely realize there is a problem if I have not heard from God what I am to do about it.

When I advocate remaining in prayer, I don't mean that if I pray for an hour I see the problem, and if I stay for two hours I see the solution. What I mean is that sometimes I see a situation from God's perspective, but it might be months or years before He tells me that I am to be a part of the solution. I mean that in having a few token minutes of prayer, many churches are still full of opinions and infighting, but in the early church, they prayed with "one voice" (Acts 4:24), fully submitted to God's sovereignty, even in the toughest of circumstances, and God answered powerfully.

What do I do until God tells me to move? I pray. Should I tell someone else about what I think? No. I pray. What if God reveals someone's secret sin to me? If the Lord hasn't also revealed to me what my role is in restoring that person, all I do is pray. If I think I have seen what God sees about some other country, do I immediately send postcards or money or buy a plane ticket or call my congressman? No. I pray. And I wait until He tells me whether I am to be a player in the solution.

This is the secret life of the true intercessor. All true intercessors know what I am talking about, because they live it every day. They have dreams and revelations often, they weep and cry out to God, and then they keep silent and keep the unity until God sends them. An intercessor intercedes. And prayer is much harder than action. You can pray in the flesh, at least for short seasons. But spending much time in fasting and prayer turning our eyes upon Jesus will tend to make the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

I think there is a promise here. Unity is a mark of a praying church, just as surely as love, peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is peace.

"LORD, teach me to pray. No more tokens or polite nods in the direction of prayer, but in true, sacrificial intercession. Show me things in the secret places, and then tell me when it is time to shout them from the housetops. I ask you in the name of the One who taught us to pray. Amen."