Let us see Act 1:14-15,
“They all , along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus. During this time, on a day when about 120 believers were present, Peter stood up and addressed them as follows.”
Again in Act 16:13, 16, we also saw that the early Christians had a particular place where they regularly met for prayers.
“On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we supposed that some, and we sat down to speak with some women who had come together.” and “One day as we were going down to a place of prayer,”
They had a place for prayers and they met regularly. Now tell me why the glory of God would not come upon them. No wonder today’s church has not been able to witness the same level of anointing, glory, and authority as the early church. The early church had places of prayer and they met regularly!
This coming together by the early believers to pray and fellowship precipitated the baptism of the Holy Ghost and ‘explosion’ of the early church. That simply means that, there are things that God will not do for His people unless they come together to pray and fellowship in unity and love.
The bible also said that they (the believers) were in one place and in one accord and God said, “Yes, this is the best time to give them that eternal and wonderful promise I made to them.”
“And when the day of the Pentecost was fully come, And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled 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 Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven…
“Then they that gladly received his word were baptized and the same day they were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
Acts 2:1-5, 41-42 (KJV).
The believers prayed together regularly and the promise and power of God came down. As a result three thousand converts were made in one day. If you also read down that story, you will find out that love, joy, favour, signs and wonders also came upon the church. When believers come together to pray in one accord (in agreement and harmony), there is nothing that they would not be able to achieve.
The devil knows this very well and that is why he will do everything to bring confusion and disaffection amongst Christians and even amongst the ministers. He knows that a united prayerful church is a great threat to his kingdom and his clandestine operations.
The church must come together; we must present a united battlefront against our common enemies – Satan and his agents. We want to see more of interdenominational fellowships, interdenominational prayer groups and meetings. Jesus said, “I will build my church (not my denomination) and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” The more people you have praying in unity, the greater the anointing.
God said in Leviticus 26:8,
“Five of you will chase a hundred and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand! All your enemies will fall beneath the blows of your weapons.”
Did you get that? The more the believers, the greater number of the enemies they will pursue. And He also gave the assurance that the enemies will fall for us. Praise God!
National Prayer Meetings in the Bible
In the bible, national prayer meetings were variously called to seek the face of God or His intervention in the affairs of the people. We will mention just two of them because of limited space:
When three nations Moabites, Ammonites and the Meunites declared war against Judah, King Jehoshaphat quickly summoned a national prayer meeting at the Temple in Jerusalem. God heard their prayers, fought and defeated their enemies. “Jehoshaphat was alarmed by this news and sought the LORD for guidance. He also gave orders that everyone throughout Judah should observe a fast.
2 Chronicles 20:3-4.
And in the book of Esther, the people of Israel found themselves in a very precarious situation. An irrevocable death decree was hanging on them, not because of any crime, but for the envy of their enemies. Please can we just read the story? It is indeed an interesting one:
“Then Haman approached king Xerxes and said, ‘there is a certain race of people scattered through all the provinces of your empire. Their laws are different from those of any other nation, and they refuse to obey even the laws of the king. So it is not in the king’s interest to let them live. If it pleases you your majesty, issue a decree that they be destroyed, and I will give 375 tons of silver to the government administrators, so that they can put it into the royal treasury.
“The king agreed, confirming his decision by removing his signet ring from his finger and giving it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite – the enemy of the Jews. ‘Keep the money,’ the king told Haman, ‘but go ahead and do as you like with these people.’
“On April 17 Haman called in the king’s secretaries and dictated letters to the princes, the governors of the respective provinces, and the local officials of each province in their own scripts and languages. These letters were signed in the name of king Xerxes, sealed with his ring, and sent by messengers into all the provinces of the empire. The letters decreed that all Jews – young and old, including women and children – must be killed, slaughtered, and annihilated on a single day. This was scheduled to happen nearly a year later on March 7. The property of the Jews would be given to those who killed them. A copy of this decree was to be issued in every province and made known to all the people, so that they would be ready to do their duty on the appointed day. At the king’s command, the decree went out by the swiftest messengers, and it was proclaimed in the fortress of Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa fell into confusion.”
Esther 3:8-15
This was the situation of the people of God. They were to be killed – their young and old, women and children. All their properties were also to be confiscated after the planned genocide. What did the Jews do? Mordecai tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes. Other Jews joined him. They fasted, wept and wailed.
God started the deliverance process by visiting the king Xerxes in the night. The king could not sleep again because fiery petitions of the people of God were bombarding His throne. The decree against the Jews was reversed, their archenemy hanged and his properties were handed over to the Jews. Praise God!
When a people, a nation or citizens of a state gather to pray and cry to God, the effects are always penetrating. The condition of your people or your nation can be changed if you would bring them together to seek the face of God today.
Individual Prayers in the Bible
Prayers done by individuals also have tremendous results. Moses, Jesus, Joshua, Daniel, Nehemiah etc, are some of the people who have changed the course of their people through prayers. As a prayer warrior; especially of the midnight stock, you should not only affect yourself, your family, but you have the capacity to affect the destiny of your people, your nation and even the entire world. Jesus’ prayers and activities still affect the world till today. Moses’ prayers saved the entire nation of Israel. Daniel’s prayer set the stage for