The final thing that happens when people pray together is that unified people empowered by the Spirit advance the Kingdom of God. There is an often quoted verse found in Proverbs 29:18, which says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Modern translations do a better job than the KJV with this verse. A more accurate rendering would be “Where there is no unified purpose, the people all do what is right in their own eyes.” The upper room prayer meeting was not for the disciples to figure out what they were going to do next. The prayer meeting was to bring them together and to put them in touch with the plan of God and the power of God to bring the Kingdom of God.
It has been said that the disciples prayed 10 days and preached 3 minutes and 3,000 people came to faith. Today, we want to pray 3 minutes and preach 10 days and we wonder why our communities are not transformed. God has a plan already on the drawing board. We need to pray together and get on the same page together for the sake of our communities and our world.
But what happens when people do not pray together?
We resort to an economy of scarcity vs. an economy of abundance.
We drive our private agendas vs. the corporate mission.
We exhibit pettiness vs. exhibiting grace.
We emphasize rules over relationships.
We value independence vs. dependence.
We become small in our thinking vs. visionaries who dream of reaching our world.
We turn into creatures of habit vs. innovators who are able to creatively share the gospel of Christ.
Don Miller once remarked, “Jesus said that his Father’s house was to be a house of prayer. If it’s not a house of prayer, then its somebody else’s house.” That’s a good thought for the week.
