Now we come to Acts 11:5, where Peter tells us something quite strange: “I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in an ecstasy I saw a vision” (lit.). The King James Version translates the word “ecstasy” as “trance”; however, the word ecstasy is an anglicized form of the Greek word used here. Ecstasy may be defined as great joy with the spirit uplifted. To be in ecstasy you need to be beside yourself. Peter prayed, and he was in an ecstasy. He was beside himself with great joy with his spirit uplifted. In the past I have had a number of experiences like this. All of us need to pray and continue praying until we come to the point that we are beside ourselves with great joy and with our spirit not only uplifted, but transcendent to the third heaven. At that point, you would forget your name, forget who you are, and forget where you are. All of us need this kind of experience.
If you have never had such an experience in prayer to be brought into an ecstasy, you could be compared to Peter in the Gospels, but you could not be compared to Peter in Acts 11. We all need to pray, to continue in prayer, to release our spirit to such an extent that we do not know where we are or who we are, but we are full of joy, transcendent, beside ourselves, and even outside of ourselves. How could we come into such an experience? The unique way is to learn to pray and to continue in prayer. When your prayer brings you into an experience that could be entitled an ecstasy, surely the vision will come. At that point, your whole being will be changed. Your concept, your understanding of the things of the Lord, even your understanding of the words we are speaking, will be different because you will no longer be concealed in yourself, in such a small self, but you will be outside of yourself. If you are walking on the street in Los Angeles, you have a certain impression of the city of Los Angeles. But if you get into the air and look down, your impression of the city is quite different. We all need to be outside of ourselves, to get into the heavenly vision, and to look down at the situation. Then everything will be different, and everything will become very clear to you.
Now we come to Acts chapter twelve, where Peter was imprisoned, and the church was praying. “Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him” (v. 5). The church prayed not only unceasingly; the word used here also means that they prayed fervently and earnestly. Here is a real picture of the service of the Christians in the early days. They did not try any other way to release Peter. Their unique way was to pray, to pray earnestly, fervently, unto the Lord. Then the angel came, the prison was opened, and Peter was freed. “And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying” (v. 12). I like this verse. Peter went to a sister’s house, a sister named Mary, a sister who was also a mother. I do hope all the sisters would have a home for prayer, and I hope you all would be the mothers to the younger saints. Peter went to the home of Mary, where many were gathered together praying. The earnest prayer for Peter’s release is a picture of their service to the Lord.
In Acts chapter thirteen we see that the way the apostles received their leading, how they were sent out, how they were coordinated, was altogether the way of praying and fasting. “Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas,...and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away” (vv. 1-3). We all need to pay our full attention to this matter, that we may learn this unique way for the Lord’s service. No one can tell you with whom you should go out, where you should go, or what is the right way for you to carry out the ministry. Not even the church here can tell you these things. We all need to pray and continue to pray until the Holy Spirit speaks to us within our spirit and makes us clear what is the way to go out, who are the ones with whom we will be coordinated, and where we shall go. The way of prayer is the unique way for the Lord’s service.
In Acts 14:23 with the appointing of the elders, the apostles prayed with fastings: “And when they had appointed them elders in every church, and had prayed with fastings, they committed them to the Lord, into whom they believed” (lit.). They prayed not merely with one fasting, but with several, perhaps many, fastings.
Now we come to chapter sixteen. It was midnight, and Paul and Silas were in prison. “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them” (v. 25). The literal meaning here is that, when Paul and Silas were praying at midnight in the prison, they sang hymns to God. In their praying, the two apostles sang hymns to God. It may not seem logical to us for them to cause such a disturbance at that hour with so many other prisoners there trying to sleep. As servants of the Lord, we have the concept that we should behave properly and not disturb anyone. However, that night in the prison Paul and Silas were beside themselves. In their prayer I do believe at a certain point they were also in an ecstasy, and they started to sing hymns. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! They created a real stir, and all the people were disturbed. Then suddenly there was an earthquake: “And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed” (v. 26). The singing may have caused the first disturbance, but the earthquake caused a bigger one! The fetters fell down, the doors were opened, and the prisoners were released.
We need to learn that there are times we should not be too logical, too well-behaved. Our prayer may bring us into an ecstasy that will cause us to make some noise that could disturb others, that could even cause them to think that we are beside ourselves. Out of your prayer you may be led to do something on the campuses. Those on the campus may be disturbed by your singing. Perhaps at a certain time out of your prayer you may be led to stand up in one of your classes to say something about Jesus Christ. These matters are not related to some kind of teaching concerning how to carry on a work on the campuses. That kind of teaching does not work. Everything must come out of your prayer, even the prayer that brings you into an ecstasy.
In Acts 20:36 we see that the Apostle Paul again did something that was not logical. All the believers had gone to the seashore to send him off on his journey, and, after he had finished speaking, he knelt down to pray, and all the others knelt down also. “And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all.” In the next chapter, the believers again came to the seashore with all their families to see Paul off. “We departed and went our way; and they all brought us on our way, with wives and children, till we were out of the city: and we kneeled down on the shore, and prayed” (Acts 21:5). When we go to the airport to see someone off, have you ever considered that we all might kneel down to pray right in the airport? No doubt that would create a big stir.
In 1935 we had public gospel preaching on the streets in the evenings, with a good number of the brothers and sisters there. Some would stand there preaching, others maintained the order, but most of the saints knelt down on the street to pray. Again in 1946 in Nanking, the capital of China, we did the same thing. Before the preaching, many brothers and sisters knelt down on the street to pray, to shout, to cry to the Lord. Even while the preaching was going on, a good number continued to kneel there supporting the preaching until it was over. That was really a wonderful display of prayer that subdued the evil spirits and conquered the rebellious spirit.
Truthfully, Christians are enthusiastic people, not logical people. We need to be beside ourselves. In a proper sense, we should not be people so much in our sober minds, but people of prayer in a heavenly ecstasy. To do these things in an outward way to follow a teaching does not work. But if we have adequate prayer in the spirit, our prayer will bring us into an ecstasy just as in the case of Paul and that of Peter. Paul told us that he was in an ecstasy when he was praying in the temple (Acts 22:17).
Then in Acts 28:8 we see the Apostle Paul praying for the healing of a sick person: “Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.” That was not the demonstration of a gift of healing, but the normal activity of one who served the Lord. Whether you have some special gift of healing or not, wherever you go, you need to pray for any you meet who are sick. The healing in Acts 28 was not anything unusual, but the result of the normal prayer of the serving one.
If we consider all these verses from the book of Acts, we will see many aspects of the prayer life for the Lord’s service. We could pray at any time, in any place, and in any way—at the seashore, in the temple, at home, on the top of the house, in the city, alone or with others, in any place, at any time, at the sixth hour, the fourth hour, the ninth hour, or at midnight. We need to pray to such an extent that the prayer brings us into an ecstasy. If we have never had this kind of experience, we simply need to pray, to pray forgetting about ourselves, forgetting about our environment, looking to the Lord, praising, declaring, proclaiming His transcendency and His virtues. If you will do this, without doubt you will find yourself in an ecstasy.