Praying With Purpose: And They Were All Filled With The Holy Spirit

“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” Acts 2:1

Now that Matthias has been chosen to fill the office of the apostle that was left vacant by Judas, the followers of Jesus can get back to the main purpose of their prayer gathering…Praying for the promise of the Holy Spirit.

It is the day of Pentecost. The feast of Pentecost was the celebration of the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai to God’s people after their deliverance from Egypt. This was celebrated for many centuries and it was always celebrated in the same fashion according to the instructions given under the worship laws. But this year would be different. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on this day would usher in a new dispensation of God’s sovereign plan. It was a paradigm moment for Israel and the rest of the world. It was on this day that the Church was birthed as God breathed the breath of life on those 120 or so and the Church became a living soul! On this particular day of Pentecost we see a transfer from the letter of the Law to the liberty of the Spirit.

What created the atmosphere for this grand shift to take place? It was a people who gathered for a single purpose. They were all in

· One place

· One accord

and most of all they had an expectation!

As they were praying there was a sound, a shaking, and voices that they knew was not earthly, but heavenly. It was a work of God and it was a willing and submissive people that brought about this history changing event.

The lesson that I want us to learn from this praying with purpose is that the outpouring of God’s Spirit is Always prayed down and Never worked up. Today many churches try to initiate revival through various man made programs and events. But the church began with a people who were hungry and expecting God to fulfill his promises and his purposes in them and the way he instructed that this would be done was through prayer.

It just seems that these days we want to replace prayer with something that is less agonizing, for true spiritual prayer can be a challenge. These all prayed ten days and the struggle was probably hard, but yet the result was worth it…and it changed the world! If revival and the outpouring of God’s Spirit is going to come to our churches, community, and country, is must be done God’s way. It cannot be worked up. It must be prayed down!

Pastor Robby