Prayer in the Early Church: A Challenge to Follow Their Example

In last week’s article in this series on prayer, we looked at prayer in the life of Jesus. Jesus is

the Son of God—so, it might be easy to say about His prayer life, “Well, He’s Jesus. There’s no way I can pray like He did.” That’s true in many ways, but we can’t ignore the way His followers, too, had prayer in their spiritual DNA.   

Those early believers were like us, so they can be role models for us in prayer. Let’s let the book of Acts describe for us how much prayer was at the heart of the early church*:  

• Acts 1:14  The early believers were united in prayer.  

• Acts 1:24  They prayed to determine Judas’s replacement.  

• Acts 2:42  They devoted themselves to prayer.  

• Acts 4:29-31 They prayed for boldness in the midst of opposition.  

• Acts 6:4-6  The apostles focused on prayer and then prayed for newly selected  

servants.  

• Acts 7:54-60  Stephen prayed as he was martyred.  

• Acts 8:15  They prayed for the Samaritans to receive the Holy Spirit.  

• Acts 9:11  Saul was praying as he awaited Ananias.  

• Acts 9:40  Peter prayed for Tabitha’s resurrection.  

• Acts 10:9  Peter was praying when he received his vision of a sheet from heaven.  

• Acts 12:5  The church prayed for Peter’s release from prison.  

• Acts 13:3 The Antioch church prayed for Paul and Barnabas as they sent them  

out.  

• Acts 14:23  Paul and Barnabas prayed for elders they appointed.  

• Acts 16:16 Paul and Silas met a demon-possessed girl on their way to prayer.  

• Acts 16:25  Paul and Silas prayed in the Philippian jail.  

• Acts 20:36  Paul prayed with the Ephesian elders as he left them.  

• Acts 21:5  Paul and his team prayed for disciples in Tyre.  

• Acts 22:17  Paul prayed in the Temple.  

• Acts 28:8  Paul prayed for Publius’s father and healed him. 

Here’s the way one scholar summarized the early church’s prayer: “When they were fearful, they prayed. When they were confused, they prayed. When they were waiting for God to fulfill his promise to them, they prayed. When they needed an answer to a question (such as who was to be the twelfth apostle), they prayed!”^** The early believers were common people who lived in the extraordinary power of God through a lifestyle of consistent prayer. 

If we think about why the early church prayed like they did, maybe we will see why we need to pray the same way. First, they prayed like they did because they knew they couldn’t do in their own power what God had called them to do. You might remember from the first article in this series that I describe prayer as “a cry for relationship with God and a confession of dependence on Him”; in this case, we’re talking about the latter part of that description. Jesus mandated that those believers witness about Him in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). That meant that a bunch of people who were not religious leaders or spiritual scholars were to carry the torch of the gospel to the nations.  

Jesus also knew when He gave them that commission that the cost would be heavy. Not everyone would hear their message. Political and religious leaders would stand against them. They would have to decide between faithfulness to God and imprisonment. Some, in fact, would face the choice between obedience and death—and they would choose death.  

How did they stay so faithful in the midst of such conflict? They prayed. They confessed their need and sought God’s help. They stayed on their knees. They did what they could not do because they did it in the power of the Spirit through prayer.  

The second reason they prayed like they did may surprise you: they simply loved Jesus with all their being. Think with me about relationships for a minute. My wife and I have been married for more than 34 years, but I still enjoy talking with her as much as I did when we first talked by landline phone when we were dating. I travel a lot, but I cannot imagine going through a day without talking to her. I love to hear her voice (especially when she tells me she’s praying for me), and I love that she longs to hear my voice, too.  

Love just does that, you know. It makes you want to talk to somebody else. it makes you look forward to conversations as soon as you wake up, in fact.  

The early church understood that truth by their experience. They adored their Lord. They knew the tragedy of others praying to idols who couldn’t hear, and they recognized their God was different. He was real . . . personal . . . welcoming . . . waiting to hear from them. Their love for Him compelled them into conversations with Him from their knees.  

They needed Jesus, and they loved Him—so they prayed.  

What do these conclusions mean for us, then? If prayer says, “God, I love You” and “God, I need You,” prayerlessness must mean something different. When you and I don’t pray, we are saying by our silence, “God, I don’t love You like I say I do, and I apparently don’t need You as much, either.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t want either phrase to describe my life.  

In that light, I encourage you to begin each day the rest of this week with this prayer: “God, let me pray like the early believers did.”    

*Chuck Lawless, The Potential and Power of Prayer: How to Unleash the Praying Church (Church Answers Resources) (pp. 63-64). (Function). Kindle Edition. 

** Grant R. Osborne, ed., Acts, Life Application Bible Commentary (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 1999), 15.