WHAT HAPPENS WHEN MEN PRAY
By Rolan Monje, for MMCC (Feb 2003)

I recently found myself in a spiritually challenging situation. Most of us wish we would be on a spiritual "mountaintop", but lately I felt like I was in a "valley". Deep down I knew that God wanted to help me get out of the valley, so I asked God to lead me through the book of Acts and reveal to me what he wanted for the me and men's ministry. These verses comprise my personal study as I skimmed through Acts to gain personal conviction.

Acts is the New Testament's history book. Like an infant's photo album, it features the young church right after Jesus left. But there's more. Acts is also a testimony of what God can do to men! God used ordinary men to do extraordinary things, and prayer was as the center of it all. I hope to inspire you today to see… when men pray…what happens?

WHEN MEN PRAY…

Look at the several instances in Acts when prayer is given focus.

Acts 1:14 "…they joined together constantly in prayer" Imagine the apostles after Jesus left. They had to rely on God!

1:24 "Then they prayed, "Lord, you know everyone's heart…" The apostles relied on God to find a righteous replacement for Judas.

2:42 "They devoted themselves to the apostle's teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." The first church was devoted to prayer.

2:47 "…praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people." It was the church's practice to really praise God. How's your personal praise to God?

4:24 "When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God…" The church's first response to problems and persecution was prayer.

6:4 "and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word." The leader's main focus was prayer and teaching the Bible. Are you a leader (or discipler) today? What would be your main focus?

6:6 "They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them." Whenever the leaders made a decision, they backed it up with prayer. Every plan had prayer to launch it.

7:59 "While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus receive my spirit." Stephen was still prayerful and spiritual while being stoned.

10:9 "…Peter went up on the roof to pray" Personal prayer times were important.

10:31 "…Cornelius, God has answered your prayer…" God was listening even to the prayers of men who were not true disciples but were seeking the truth! God leads the Kingdom to those who are praying for the Kingdom.

14:23 "Paul and Barnabas…with prayer and fasting…" Big decisions were always done with prayer and fasting.

20:36 "…he knelt down with all of them and prayed." Emotional times were times of prayer also.

28:8 "Paul went in to see him and, after prayer…" Paul prayed for specific needs of the people around him.

These are only some of the examples of prayer in the book of Acts alone. It shows men totally relying on God for every single need and goal in their lives. Let's see how God's Spirit responded to them.

THIS HAPPENS…

1:26 The best was chosen to replace Judas. The leadership was stabilized.

2:41 Because of prayer, the Spirit moved in the hearts of the Pentecost crowd. About 3000 accepted Peter's message and were baptized.

2:27 God added to their number daily. God was pleased to see a spiritual family.

4:4 The men's ministry grew to about five thousand. No secret for growth here, it's just the Spirit!

4:31 The church got bolder to share their faith. When? It was after they prayed!

5:14 Even if people were scared of them, more and more people still became Christians.

6:7 The word spread. Priests are men who were influential and hard to convert. Prayer make the difficult things happen.

8:26 The Spirit led Philip to evangelize the Ethiopian eunuch, who was super open! (Met someone open lately?)

9:20 The past persecutor of the church (Paul) was now preaching about Jesus!

9:31 Peace comes from God. The church enjoyed peace because the HS was encouraging it.

12:24 The church continued to grow, even during political turmoil.

13:44 God was bringing in all the crowds. (Almost the whole city!) It wasn't just human effort. It was God!

16:5 God used the messages of the traveling preachers to encourage the church and make it grow.

18:9 God personally encourages Paul in a vision.

19:20 The repentance stories of those who followed God were incredible!

Brothers, let's be convicted and convinced that God is leading us to greater prayer lives. Let's decide to become a prayerful men's ministry. Only pray and let God move your heart and other peoples' as well. Amazing things happen when men pray.