PASSAGE: Acts 2:42 - And they devoted themselves to…the prayers.

PAUSE: Praying together about the real needs of life and the heavy burdens of the heart is a spiritual practice that every single believer should experience on a regular basis! Most Christians confess that they have a great deal of either guilt or dissatisfaction about their life of prayer. Guilt, because they just don’t pray very much, or dissatisfaction. because when they do pray it seems shallow or repetitive. And I’ve noticed that most of the time when Christians gather to pray, the requests are about physical needs and often focus on people we don’t even know that well. It’s almost like we are afraid to share and pray over personal struggles or difficult circumstances or relationships. We really need to push through to a deeper level. And we need to pray for the spiritual way more than the physical! That’s the emphasis I see when I look at the prayers of Jesus and Paul in the New Testament. Prayers for God’s wisdom and strength and courage. Prayers that we continue to be transformed into the image of Christ in all our relationships and responsibilities. 

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, coming before You in prayer together is one of the great privileges of the Christian life. May we do it more often. Amen.