4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” … (Acts 1:3-8)
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey. 13 And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. 14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. (Acts:12-16, emphasis added)
I don’t know about you, but I crave this. This praying in one accord. This waiting. This patience. This desire for the Holy Spirit.
These men and women where instructed by Jesus to wait for the Holy Spirit.
And they did.
Together, with one accord, they obeyed their Savior. They waited for the promised power of the Holy Spirit…
…so they could be witnesses for Jesus in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and in ALL. THE. WORLD.
Can you imagine a pray meeting like this today? A prayer meeting where the only thing on the agenda is to wait for the Holy Spirit.
To wait for His power so that we can then go out and reach every corner of the globe with the gospel.
What if this happened?
What if we actually had prayer meetings where we just waited… and listened… and responded… and obeyed?
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What if every confession and request at a prayer meeting actually ended “in Jesus name“?
I don’t know exactly what the meeting in the upper room looked like. I don’t know what such a prayer meeting would look like today. But I do know this: the people in that room did receive what they longed for — what they had been promised.
The Holy Spirit came.
And they began to witness.
What if we longed for and asked for what we’ve been promised, too?
What if we longed and asked for what we've been promised? #quietlythroughthursday #linkup Click To Tweet
This post was written after reading a portion of the Quietly Through 2-Year Bible Reading Plan. I’d love to hear how you are responding to God’s word, too. Please leave a comment or join the #QuietlyThroughThursday link-up.
Only by grace,
Kelli
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5 comments
Great post and so much we can learn from the upper room! Especially, love being in one accord with each other, praying in Jesus name and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Blessings, Misty
Yes! We can learn so much! I am now praying for an “upper room” pray meeting to be started in my community. 🙂
I love the idea of the group joined together and waiting as one! They were so interconnected, we’ve lost that.
Yes, I think as a whole the Church has lost this. Or at least I haven’t witnessed it. I’m going to be praying for the saints to be seeking this once again.
I hear them almost every Sunday during our Bible Class time. A handful; not in an upper room, but the bottom floor level. Praying (mostly in the Spirit) and agreeing. The sound is so marvelously wonderful (and esp. the woman that’s from England!!).
Better than that is seeing them living out their lives! There’s evidence of the power of the prayers they pray!