EXPLOSIVE PRAYERS IN THE BOOK OF ACTS (part 3)

The book of Acts shows the beginning of the newborn church after they had received the Holy Spirit. We also see the new prayer life of the believers after they had received the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ who made His disciples “men of prayer.” (Jesus Christ made “prayer warriors”) Prayer opened the heavens and brought the supernatural to this world. We see that God sends ANGELS, OPENS THE HEAVENS, SETS PRISONERS FREE, POURS OUT HIS SPIRIT ON BELIEVERS, LETS PRISONS AND BUILDINGS SHAKE, GIVES BOLDNESS TO PREACH THE GOSPEL, GIVES VISONS AND TRANCES, AND GIVES POWER TO HEAL AND DO MIRACLES, in answer to prayer. We will study how the first Church experienced amazing victories through prayer.

Acts 12:5 Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.

Peter was in prison because of his faith in Jesus Christ. The church wanted to get him free. The church didn't bring money together to bribe the authorities. The church didn't bring a small army together to break the prison open. The church didn't play political games with people who had influence in Jerusalem. 

No, the church did something much better; they prayed and put their trust in God. The church was praying to God to get Peter free from prison, and God sent just one angel to set Peter free. Prayer is the tool to open the door to the supernatural and set people free.

Acts 12:12 So, when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.

Amazing power from God can be revealed from heaven when people start to pray. Where two or three are together in His name, Christ will be in our midst. Having prayer meetings is so important. The prayer of faith can open heaven and the prison doors.

Acts 13:2-3 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, "Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." 3 Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.

There were five prophets and teachers who ministered to the Lord. Ministering to the Lord is to come before Him with worship, adoration, and praise. They came in God’s presence before His throne and worshiped the King of king, and the Lord of lords. They heard the Holy Spirit’s voice who gave them instructions.

After they received the instructions of the Holy Spirit to send Barnabas and Saul on a mission, they fasted and prayed. After prayer, they laid hands on them and sent them on their way. Prayer brings the revelation, and the laying on of hands imparts the authority to bring salvation. 

Acts 14:19-20 Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.

Paul was stoned to death because of persecution, and they wondered if he was dead. But when the disciples stood around Paul in prayer, he rose again and walked into the city where he had just been stoned to death. Prayer can raise people from the dead.

Acts 14:23 So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

We see again that when people are appointed for God's work, they will be commended to the Lord with praying and fasting. Also, our Lord Jesus Christ prayed and fasted before He chose the twelve disciples.

Luke 6:12-16 After a night of prayer on the mountain, He choose His twelve disciples.

Acts 16:13 And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there.

Paul didn't know anybody in this city; he only had a vision from God. He could not find a synagogue in this city, so he presumed that there had to be a place of prayer. Cities that didn't have a synagogue should have a place of prayer where they worshipped God near a sea or a river. ("a proseucha") And Paul found them worshipping the Lord at the river. Find the place of prayer!

Acts 16:16 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling.

Paul and Silas went to the prayer meeting again and were disturbed by a slave girl with a spirit of divination for many days. I believe that the devil used this girl to attack those who went to the place of prayer. It looked very innocent what the girl said but we don’t need demonic voices to tell what we are doing. Later, Paul cast out the demon from this slave girl. 

Acts 16:25-26 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed.

Here, we see the power of praying and worshipping the Lord. Paul and Silas prayed and worshipped the Lord, even when they were in their darkest hour. The combination of prayer and worship is explosive because the foundations of the prison were shaken. The prison doors opened, and people’s chains were loosed. This is what we need in our days as well. So many people are bound by sin and trapped by the devil. Prayer and worship can set people free. 

Acts 20:36 And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

It is wonderful to bow our knees together and to give ourselves to the Lord, for the first time or by renewing. They bowed down on their knees before the Lord, committing each other to the Lord till they will meet again in Heaven. We have such a wonderful future.

Acts 21:5 When we had come to the end of those days, we departed and went on our way; and they all accompanied us, with wives and children, till we were out of the city. And we knelt down on the shore and prayed.

There is a time of coming but also of going. If God calls us to go, we should go. Even if that means that you will not see your beloved back here on earth. We can bow down on our knees before the Lord and pray, till we will meet again.

Acts 22:17-18 Now it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance 18 and saw Him saying to me, 'Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.'

God can speak to us through dreams, visions, trances, or reading God's word. When we come into His presence through prayer, God can give an impression on our soul. We should not seek these kinds of experiences, we should seek Him, the Lord Himself, who can give us these experiences. 

Acts 26:29 And Paul said, "I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains."

Paul's heart was burning to save souls in every situation, even when he was standing before kings and those who were in authority. It was his goal in life to preach the gospel and to save as many as he could. It was the love of Jesus who worked in him. Pray for revival, pray that people will get saved; the good news is for everybody.

Acts 27:35 And when he had said these things, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it he began to eat.

Paul the Apostle encouraged the people to eat bread and give thanks to God. Paul knew that God would do a supernatural work to keep all people save who were on board of the ship. Paul prayed and gave thanks to God in front of all people to glorify God so that God got all the glory. 

Acts 28:8 And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went in to him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him. 9 So when this was done, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed.

Believers in the first Church first prayed to receive authority and power. After prayer, they laid hands on the sick, and the sick recovered. The prayer of a righteous man is effective and powerful. God's Holy Spirit worked through the members of the first church, and the Holy Spirit, who continued the work of Jesus Christ through the believers, is living in us. John 14:10-14, Eph. 3:20. This wonderful prayer life in the book of Acts is also prepared for us. To Him is the Glory forever and ever! 

Eph. 2:19-22 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.