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Acts 4:23-31 gives the account of the early church’s response to the first signs of persecution for the spread of the gospel of Christ. Coming right off the heels of the religious leaders' threats, we might expect to read that the early church got a little quieter for a while. Perhaps the first underground churches started popping up. Maybe Peter would have submitted a request to the proconsul for approval to speak about this “new” religion. Instead, we see a response by the early church of prayer for boldness to continue to speak the Word of Jesus. As Chan noted, the early church’s prayer gives us a good example to consider as we pray this week. Reflecting on the example of the early church, I want to consider the following as I pray this week:

1) Addressing specific attributes of God that directly correlate to the good gifts He has given or the requests I bring. For example, how the early church addressed God as “Sovereign Lord.”  The way we address God can guide the way we pray.  Another example can be seen in Psalm 51 when David states, “Have mercy on me, oh God, according to your steadfast love.” We see here that David’s request hinges on the character of God. What requests do I desire to make of God this week? How can those be framed by knowing who He is?

2) Recalling to mind Scripture that can inform my prayers. The early church prayed the words of the Psalms, which is a great place that we can look to as well. I have personally found great comfort and guidance for my prayers in times of difficulty from Psalms like Psalm 37.

3) Making requests to God that align with His Word and my obedience to His Word. We see the early church ask for boldness to continue to speak the word they had received from Jesus Christ. Their prayer was a request to be bold in carrying out the command given. As we consider the numerous commands in Scripture for us, let us consider how we might pray for help in walking in obedience to those commands. James 1:5 is a good place to start, as we can ask God for wisdom to carry out His commands, specifically to the command to endure in trials.

Perhaps you already do these things regularly, or perhaps you are still figuring out how to pray. We see a model by the early church of intentional thought given to prayer and great influence of the Scriptures in their prayers. Spontaneous prayers of little thought are not necessarily wrong, but as we seek to grow more faithful and intentional in how we pray to God, would you join me in seeking to cultivate these habits in our lives as a church?