A Call to Prayer: They All Prayed Continually
It is not enough to pray once or twice or even ten times; prayer must be continually made to God until He answers.
And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,) (Acts 1:13-15, KJV)
And when the day of Pentecost was come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4, KJV)
In the first part of this series, we noted that as all one hundred and twenty disciples in the upper room prayed, so must we all pray. Now, we shall discuss how long they prayed and for how long we should pray.
How long did the one hundred and twenty disciples in the upper room pray?
When the disciples returned to the upper room after the Ascension of Jesus, they gathered to pray. And we are told that,
“These all continued …. in prayer ….”
But for how long did they continue in prayer? From the Passover to Pentecost is fifty days. Jesus was crucified on the day of Passover and resurrected on the first day of the week, which is three days. After Jesus’ resurrection, He continued on the earth for forty days (Acts 1:1-3), after which He ascended to heaven. Thus, from the Ascension to Pentecost is eight days (including the day of the Ascension). Therefore, the disciples prayed for eight days in the upper room before the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost.
Should we apply the eight-day rule in praying for a revival?
No doubt, what happened on the day of Pentecost was a revival. It took Jerusalem by storm, and three thousand souls were saved that day (Acts 2:41). Some days later, another five thousand souls were saved (Acts 4:4). And by Acts 6:1-7, there were multitudes of saved souls in Jerusalem alone.
But this revival occurred because the disciples prayed continually for eight days. We have asserted that there cannot be a revival without prayers—by an individual, group of individuals, or the church. The prayer that brings a revival to communities and even nations is not casual or careless but concerted and concentrated.
Also, praying once, twice, or thrice will not cut it. So, should we pray for eight days as the disciples did in the upper room? Unfortunately, many Christians repeat what has happened in Scripture, expecting the same result as they have read therein. Hence, the natural inclination is to assume that an eight-day intensive prayer will bring a revival, more so as it happened in the upper room! Yet, the reality is that revivals occur because of the continuous prayers of individuals over extended periods beyond eight days or even months; indeed, in some cases, it took years of praying for a revival before it finally came. Hence, eight days of continuous praying by the one hundred and twenty disciples in the upper room may not translate to eight days today.
Pray until revival comes
There is a principle of prayer that the Lord taught His disciples in Luke 11. Using the illustration of a man who went to his friend at night to ask for bread with which to serve his unexpected wayfaring guest, Jesus noted that the man who needed the bread persisted in knocking until his friend came to open the door (Luke 11:5-8). The Lord did not mention the number of times he knocked on the door, only that he persistently or shamelessly knocked on the door until his friend came to give him what he wanted (the Greek word translated ‘persistent’ is ‘shamelessness’). By this illustration, the Lord told His disciples that a major principle of prayer is praying until God answers!
Thus, persistent praying is not about the number of times you pray, but praying until God answers! When Elisha was about to die, the King of Israel came to see him (2 Kings 13:14-25). During the king’s visit, Elisha assured him of complete victory over Syria, Israel’s arch-enemy. Then, he asked the king to take a handful of arrows and strike the ground. The king hit the ground thrice and stopped. However, Elisha was upset with the king because he stopped after hitting the ground thrice and wondered why the king did not continue at least two or three more times! He went on to tell the king that since he struck the ground thrice, he would only be victorious against Syria thrice—which was what happened. Although the prophecy of Elisha was of total deliverance from Syria, the king’s action, which can be likened to prayer, only brought partial victory.
Beloved, we cannot be frugal with prayer. We must pray until we get an answer from God. Many so-called “near success syndrome” is nothing but a lack of praying through. You have stopped short of total victory when you pray a few times and stop. The king of Israel only needed to have struck the ground two or three additional times to gain complete victory over Syria, but he relented after just three strikes! Many prayers for revival are truncated just when the breakthrough would have been reached.
If you are climbing to the top of a mountain, the most difficult part is just before you get there. Many mountain climbers had given up just at the brink of reaching the top! We cannot afford to pray short—we must pray through and breakthrough! Therefore, we must continually pray until revival comes.
When Elijah prayed for rain on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:41-44), it was not about the seven times he prayed. What was crucial was that Elijah prayed until he saw the sign of rain about to come down. If he had been in his house, I believe he would have prayed until the rain poured. Therefore, we must pray until the rain of God’s righteousness pours on our communities as streams of revival.
The prayer of the one hundred and twenty disciples in the upper room was not for a predetermined number of days. They simply continued praying until the Holy Spirit came upon them all. Had the Holy Spirit not come on the day of Pentecost, they would have continued to pray. Therefore, we must not be fixated on praying for a predetermined number of days and then cease praying thereafter.
All must pray continuously
Regardless of how many days they prayed for in the upper room, they all prayed, continually! We cannot afford a situation where a few people are praying continually, and others are not. If we are to experience unending streams of revival, we must all continue to pray until such a revival comes, and thereafter, continually pray!
When Peter was imprisoned and about to be executed (Acts 12:3-16), prayer was made by the church continually. The prayer continued even after Peter was miraculously delivered from prison. They would have continued to pray if Peter had not shown himself to them. I believe that was why the Holy Spirit led Peter to where prayer was being made for his deliverance. We know that even when the young maid, Rhoda, informed those praying that Peter was at the door knocking, they did not believe her. Indeed, Peter continued knocking before they realised he was the one at the door and let him in.
We all must continue to pray until God brings revival!
The challenge of continual praying
One of the challenges of continuous, concerted, and concentrated prayer is gathering together in one place. The disciples were together in the upper room, their hideout, because the Pharisees sought to arrest them. Some churches declare 40 days of prayer, and others have had up to 100 days of continuous praying, expecting their members to gather daily for those prayers. These prayers usually begin with a good number attending, but the attendance starts to wane after a few days.
Some people fall off because of the challenges of closing from work and transporting themselves to the prayer venue. And when they do get to the prayer venue, they are too tired to contribute to the prayer meaningfully. They may end up like the disciples who went with Jesus to the Mount of Transfiguration or the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, only to fall asleep. Besides, there is the stress of praying daily at a venue far from home and office for a lengthy period.
Recently, we have witnessed the discontinuation of gatherings occasioned by COVID. Although many pastors opposed such lockdowns, they nonetheless had to happen. So, what can be done so everyone can continually pray until revival comes?
Pastors must understand that praying for revival or any other pressing need does not necessarily require physical gathering. We can spiritually all be in the same place. We are all praying when we are all committed to praying in our various locations, and do actually pray. So, we can agree and commit to praying for an hour every day, wherever we are, and for the same purpose—be it a revival or some other pressing need in the body of Christ.
Pray always and do not give up
The Lord Jesus encouraged us always to pray and not give up, when He told the parable of the widow who had gone to a wicked judge seeking justice (Luke 18:1-8). Not only did the Lord speak of the widow’s importunity, but also of God’s assurance to answer the prayers of those who constantly cry to Him day and night!
We must constantly pray and not give up, neither be weary nor discouraged. We must keep praying until God answers us, whether we are gathered in a building or scattered all over the face of the earth.
We cannot afford to pray only on Sundays when we gather in a church meeting, and then from Monday through Saturday, there is silence, as none is praying! Only to return the next Sunday to pray; that is unprofitable! We must all continuously pray.
The widow kept going to the judge, though he was unwilling to attend to her. And like the man who went to his friend for bread, her persistence or shamelessness shamed the judge, and he gave in! The Lord noted that, like the widow, we must unashamedly plead day and night before God, Who, unlike the wicked judge, is good, compassionate, and desires to answer our requests.
Sometimes, it seems like nothing is happening when we pray to God, but we must not be discouraged but keep praying. At some point in no too distant future, God will answer. Sometimes, God wants to test our perseverance and our commitment to pray things through. We must, therefore, not allow a seeming delay in obtaining what we are praying for, to discourage or dissuade us from continuing in prayer. The Lord Jesus has given us a heads-up that what we are praying about may take some time, but we must keep praying. You should only stop praying over a matter when God says to stop—that is, when God says, “It is done!” or “Do not pray to me about this matter again!” Otherwise, keep praying until you hear a word from God or see the result of your prayer.
Let us pray!