As discussed over the past three days, Acts 2:42-47 tells us about the first church – the fellowship of the believers. Verse 42 tells us, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Devoted themselves. Notice that it was an individual decision to become the church. Each believer submitted themselves to full devotion to Christ. What did that look like? How did they keep the fire burning white hot inside themselves?

I see four distinct ways in which they devoted themselves - the first is to the apostle’s teaching, the second is to the fellowship, the third is to the breaking of bread, and the fourth is to prayer.

Intimacy with God doesn’t happen any other way. Prayer is speaking with God and listening and watching, and often times waiting, for His answers. Full devotion to Christ requires a healthy prayer life, and it was a cornerstone of the first church.

Often our fires become dull as a result of a waning prayer life. Just like exercise, everyone needs to choose a routine that works for them. When I exercise, I need a consistent time slot that doesn’t leave wiggle room for excuses, but a routine with a lot of variety to keep me interested and to bring about a number of different results – toning, endurance, cardiovascular health and weight loss.

The same is true to keep my fire white hot in my relationship with God. I need to meet with God in prayer and in study the same time each day, without wiggle room for excuses but with a variety of methods to keep me engaged. Sometimes it’s journaling – writing out my prayers in a conversation with God. Sometimes there are specific needs I plead with God about boldly in prayer. Sometimes I pray through a Psalm by responding to God when something applies directly to my life. Occasionally, after I pray for God to speak to me, I fast in order to keep myself tuned in to listening to His answers. Sometimes my prayer is made up of thanksgiving and praise for who God is and all that He’s done. Whatever the methods, I want to stay faithful to the one who is more faithful than any human being ever could be.

Why wouldn’t we want to pray – to talk to God about everything and anything in an intimate relationship with Him? It heats me up just recalling the times I’ve seen God work in answer to prayer or when He’s conveyed something to me during my prayers. How about you - how do you stay motivated to pray continually, as the Bible directs? What methods can you use to try to stretch yourself in this area? Ever considered a prayer partnership to address these needs in your journey toward full devotion to Christ?

In closing - if we choose to live out being the church as the first believers did in Acts 2: devoting ourselves to the apostle’s teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer, what difference might it make in our lives? In our relationship with Christ? What kind of impact would our lives have on others in our family, our church, our neighborhood, our community, our state, our country, our world? I leave you considering the blessing that the first church was given as a result of their full devotion:

“And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” – Acts 2:47

How does that stoke your fire?

~ Kay Evenwel

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 at 8:30 am and is filed under Acts 2 Living, Week 5: Consumed by a Burning Desire. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.