By Dave Butts
"They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer" (Acts 2:42).
"But we will devote ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word" (Acts 6:4 NASB) .
What or who are you devoted to? Many would respond that they are
devoted to their families, and that is a good response. Others might
speak of their devotion to their job or their country. Christians may
indicate their devotion to their church or ministry. Many would have to
honestly say that sports, entertainment, television, and other leisure
activities hold their devotion.
In the Bible, the word "devotion" implies an intensity and focus that
escape most of us today. In the Old Testament, when Israel was
conquering the Promised Land militarily, God commanded them to devote
the pagan cities to Him. He made it clear that this kind of devotion
meant to destroy those cities completely. Most of us aren’t used to the
concept of that kind of loyalty!
A Christian’s primary devotion ought to be toward Jesus. He is our
first love. We should be able to say, as Paul did, "I no longer live,
but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20). The question becomes: "How do I
demonstrate devotion to Christ?" Though there could be many responses,
it should be obvious that the primary means of expressing devotion is
prayer. It is in prayer that we talk with the Lord and walk in
continual awareness of His presence in us.
Our model for this devotion to prayer is the early Church. My friend
and Harvest Prayer Ministries colleague, Alvin VanderGriend, has
written a powerful article demonstrating this fact biblically. His new
book, The Joy of Prayer, contains the following excerpt and many other wonderful helps for us as we grow in our prayer lives:
"The first Christians were truly devoted to prayer. The prayers at
their prayer meetings were not short, shallow, bless-me kinds of
prayers. Three times in the early chapters of Acts Luke uses the
intense Greek word proskartereo, often translated as ‘devoted to,’ to
report on the strength of their commitment to prayer. The word
literally means ‘to occupy oneself diligently with something’ or ‘to
persist in.’ It’s the word used in Acts 1:14 to describe their first
prayer meeting: ‘These . . . were continually devoting themselves to
prayer’ (NASB). It’s the word used in Acts 2:42 to characterize their
community activities: ‘they devoted themselves . . . to prayer.’ It’s
the word used to explain the intent of their spiritual leaders to
‘devote [themselves] to prayer’ (Acts 6:4, NASB). Do you get the
picture? They were really committed to prayer.
"Paul uses the same Greek word when he talks about prayer. For example,
he instructs Colossian Christians: ‘Devote yourselves to prayer, being
watchful and thankful’ (Col. 4:2). He exhorts Roman Christians to be
‘devoted to prayer’ (Rom. 12:12, NASB) and he urges Ephesian believers
to pray devotedly for all the saints (Eph. 6:18). The New Testament
writers could not have been clearer. Devotion to prayer was the norm
for New Testament Christians.
"Most of the above references to devoted prayer have to do with
corporate prayer. Luke’s list of activities to which the early
Christians were devoted – teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and
prayer – are all communal activities, including prayer. Acts 3 begins
with a report of Peter and John on their way to a prayer meeting at the
temple. In the next chapter believers have come together for prayer in
response to the threat by Jewish leaders (4:23-31). Not long after that
believers gathered in a home to pray for imprisoned Peter (Acts 12).
That early Christians regularly gathered for group prayer is a biblical
fact not to be denied.
"Why, we may ask, were those first Christians so devoted to prayer? The
answer is that this is what they saw in the life of Jesus. He spent
entire nights in prayer. He bathed the key moments of His life in
prayer. His words, His miracles, His power all came through prayer. He
gave His disciples a pattern for prayer (Matt. 6:9-13) and taught them
to pray with boldness and persistence (Luke 11:5-8, 18:1-8). The first
Christians simply continued with what they saw in Jesus’ life and heard
from His lips.
"Unfortunately most of today’s Western church does not share this same
devotion to prayer. Saying prayers now and then to try and get our
problems solved is not devotion to prayer. Rehearsing me-oriented
prayer lists before God is not devotion to prayer. Prayer groups that
spend most of their time sharing and a few minutes in prayer can hardly
be called devoted to prayer.
"God’s Word pictures a church that was devoted to prayer, that
persisted in prayer, and that occupied itself diligently with prayer.
That is what God expects. That is what Jesus taught. That is what the
New Testament Church modeled.
"If you are a child of God, a Word-oriented Christian, and a member of
this same New Testament church, then Paul is speaking to you: ‘Devote
yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful’ (Col. 4:2)."
Taken from The Joy of Prayer, Week Eight, Day 2, by Alvin
VanderGriend. PrayerShop Publishing, 2007. (This book will be available
for purchase early next year at www.prayershop.org).
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September 2007 
