We also need the prayer that shook the earth and empowered the disciples with the Holy Spirit for the speaking of the word of God with boldness (Acts 4:24-31). The disciples prayed with one accord (v. 24) according to the word of God (vv. 25-28), claiming the divine power through the name of Jesus (vv. 29-30). We have to pray to shake the environment. Many times the environment is a lie. When we go out to visit people for the preaching of the gospel, there may be something within us saying that people will not open the door to us. This is a lie. Another lie is that people will not open their heart and their spirit to receive the Lord. If this is the case, our going is in vain. Therefore, we have to pray to shake the environment. We need to open the doors by our prayer. To pray is to shake the environment, to change the environment. When we pray in such a way, we will be filled with the economical Spirit, and we will have the boldness to speak the word of God. We should not believe in the environment. Instead we have to believe in our prayer to change the environment.
In Acts 6:4 we see the prayer of the apostles to match the ministry of the word. This prayer was continuous and steadfast. Preaching the gospel, having home meetings, having small group meetings, or prophesying in the big meetings, are all for ministering the word. We must remember that the ministry of the word should be matched by our prayer. Our prayer will make the word living and powerful. Peter said that he and the other apostles would give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. We also need to continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word.
Acts 10:9-16 shows us the prayer that brought Peter into a trance and brought a heavenly vision to him. This prayer at the appointed time (v. 9) brought Peter into a conversation with the Lord (vv. 13-16). This is another principle of prayer. To pray is to pray ourselves into a trance. A trance means that we have gotten out of our self. We may be imprisoned in our self, but we need to pray out of that imprisonment. In a trance, in a situation in which we are out of our self, we can receive visions of God. We all need a trance because we remain in our self too long. We are in our self too much. Our self is a strong prison that we need to get out of, so we need to pray ourselves into a trance. Many times in morning watch, while we are reading the Bible and pray-reading, we have the sensation that we are out of our self and that we are in a situation of being so close to God. We cannot tell where we are. We just know that we are out of our self. That is a trance, and in that trance we receive visions from God. Peter prayed this way at the appointed time, which was at noon. I believe that Peter used to pray at that time every day, and he prayed himself into a conversation with the Lord. When we get into a trance, we are in a conversation with the Lord in which we talk to the Lord and the Lord talks to us. Peter and the Lord conversed together. We all need the kind of prayer that brings us into such a trance.
We also need the kind of prayer that opened the prison gate for Peter (Acts 12:4-14). This shows the fervent prayer of the church (v. 5) in small groups (v. 12). To preach the gospel by visiting people, we surely have to pray to open the doors. Actually, the doors are opened to us not by our knocking on them but through our prayer. We need the fervent prayer of the church in small groups. Peter went to the home of Mary after he was released from prison, and there was a group of saints praying in that home. Acts 12 also indicates that there were many small groups praying for Peter at that time in the homes of the saints.
For the organic building up of the Body of Christ, we need the prayer that brought the five prophets and teachers into the Lord’s commission in Acts 13:1-4. These five prophets and teachers in Acts 13 served the Lord by praying and fasting, and that prayer brought them into the Lord’s commission, the Lord’s sending. They were commissioned and sent by the Lord through prayer, not through any kind of appointment. Their prayer was with ministering to the Lord and fasting (v. 2a). Ministering to the Lord means serving the Lord, waiting on the Lord in the service to the Lord. Eventually, they prayed themselves into the speaking of the Holy Spirit (v. 2b). The Holy Spirit will not speak to us unless we pray ourselves into that situation. Then the Holy Spirit will speak for sending the sent ones (v. 3).
We also need the kind of prayer that brought in a great earthquake and shook the foundation of the prison (Acts 16:23-26). Whether the earth will “quake” or not is up to our prayer. While Paul and Silas were praying in Acts 16, they were singing hymns of praise to God (v. 25). They were in chains in the stocks in the inner prison, but instead of worrying, they sang hymns of praise to God. Their prayer shook the foundation of the prison. When we go out to preach the gospel, we should pray that the “foundation” of the doors that we are knocking on will be shaken and will be opened to us.
In Acts 22:17-21 is the prayer that brought Paul into a trance and into the Lord’s speaking to him. Both Peter and Paul prayed themselves into a trance. Again, we all need to pray ourselves into a trance, into the Lord’s speaking to us. Paul did this in the temple, in a holy and quiet place (v. 17). In his prayer he received the Lord’s commission (vv. 18-21).
The book of Acts is a record of the activities of the apostles, and the apostles’ activities were always matched by their prayers. All the kinds of prayers that we have fellowshipped about in the book of Acts, show us what kind of prayer we need to pray. We need to learn to pray the way the disciples in Acts prayed. This kind of prayer can shake the environment, shake the foundation of the prison, shake the earth, shake off all the chains, and open the doors. This prayer will also bring us into a trance, bring us into God, and bring God into us. Then we can converse with God, receive His commission, and receive His sending. We have to learn to pray in all these ways. We need the divine life, and we need prayer for us to accomplish all the crucial steps for the Body of Christ to be built up organically through our work.
I would like to add a further word to our fellowship in this book. In principle, a healthy local church should not always be depending on others to help them. If we always depend on gifted persons or on people from other churches to help us in our local church, this can spoil us. The daughter of a mother who is a very capable cook may be a very poor cook. This is because the mother can cook so well that she never allows her daughter to learn to cook. We need to learn to trust in the Lord, in His life, and in our prayer. The scriptural way is now clear to us, and all of us can participate. It may seem like a heavy burden to visit people in their homes for the preaching of the gospel, but when we do this work and get into it, it is not a burden but an enjoyment. We can go out once a week for a month, and within a month we will get at least one baptized. Then we can go back to visit this one and raise him up to get him established. If we cooperate with the Lord in His present move, each of us can have two remaining fruit yearly. In ten years each of us can have twenty remaining fruit. How marvelous this would be for the increase of the church! If all of us rise up to practice the fellowship in this book, we will be in the universal priesthood. Each of us will have a part in the universal priesthood. As we all function organically in the priesthood, we will see the practical and organic building up of the church.