“I desire therefore that men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and reasoning” (1 Tim. 2:8)
In the church life the leading ones, the more mature ones, need to take the lead to pray, and we all as the “all men” in 1 Tim. 2:8 need to pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and reasoning.
The sufficient and necessary condition to be met for God’s desire to be accomplished is prayer. When we pray, we are one with the Lord to intervene in other’s affairs before God and send “bombs” in the enemy’s territory to destroy his strategy, his tactics, and his deceiving of others.
Through prayer and intercession, we interfere with Satan – he is operating to frustrate the saints from growing in life and enjoying the Lord by causing them to be anxious, distracted, upset, or down.
When we pray in twos and threes, when we have the upper room consecration to pray for our brothers and sisters, we bind the enemy, release the saints, and God has a way to move.
We need to not only have the “seashore consecration” at our salvation but a further consecration, the upper room consecration, where we put all on the altar and we give ourselves to the Lord to pray one with Him the prayer He needs to end this age and bring in the kingdom!
Lord, for the sake of Your return and for Your final move in this age, cause us to be those who have the upper room consecration. Lord, make all the saints in all the local churches be those who offer You the prayer You need to come in and end this age, bringing in the kingdom age!
Men Pray in Every Place Lifting Up Holy Hands
Our hands symbolize our doing – we need to have a sanctified living, a living that belongs to God and is saturated with God, so that we may lift up holy hands to God when we pray!
Our holy life strengthens and upholds our prayer life – if our living is not in our spirit, not according to God, we cannot lift up holy hands when we pray.
For us to have a holy living, we need to get rid of wrath and reasoning – our emotion needs to be balanced, and our mind needs to be calmed down. We need to cool down our emotion and calm down our mind, and our will needs to be exercised that we may pray.
When we pray we shouldn’t be in our emotion or in our mind, but in our spirit and with our exercised will to pray one with God! We need to pray in every place, lifting up to God holy hands (strengthened and backed up by our holy living), without any wrath and reasoning!
All our Work Should Be Initiated by Prayer
In the book of Acts we see that all the works that the apostles did were initiated by prayer.
The book of Acts shows that the apostles never initiated any work without prayer; whenever they wanted to do something, they stopped themselves by their prayer, giving God a way to come into them, to fill them up, and to saturate their entire being.
Before the Lord’s death, the disciples had no interest in praying for spiritual things – rather, they would fall asleep when the Lord prayed, or they would contend which one is the greatest (Luke 22:40, 24, 45-46).
But after the Lord’s resurrection and ascension, they were regenerated through the Lord’s breathing into them the Holy Spirit (John 20:22), and their spiritual condition was radically changed. They now had the burden to continue steadfastly with one accord in prayer for the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to send the Spirit (Acts 1:14).
The apostles never initiated any work without prayer – whenever they wanted to do something, they prayed. They stopped themselves through prayer, and they gave God a way to come into them, to fill them up, saturate their entire being, and then do something through them!
Here are some of the works they did as recorded in Acts, all of which were initiated through prayer:
- The Pentecost was initiated by much and thorough prayer in the upper room for 10 days (see Acts 1:13-14; 2:1-4, 16-17a).
- The shaking of the earth and the empowering of the disciples for the preaching of the gospel in spite of persecution was initiated by prayer (Acts 4:24-31).
- The apostles gave themselves to prayer and ministry of the word – prayer first, and then the ministry of the word (Acts 6:4).
- The opening up of the door to the Gentiles began through the prayer of both Cornelius and Peter (Acts 10:9-16).
- When Peter was in prison, small groups of vital companions were praying in the homes all over Jerusalem, and the Lord released Peter from prison (Acts 12:4-14).
- The initiation of God’s move to the foreign lands began with five brothers praying until the Spirit sent two of them (Acts 13:1-4).
- The prison doors in Philippi were opened through the prayer of Paul and Silas while being in prison (Acts 16:23-26).
- Paul was praying in the temple when he received the commission to go to the Gentiles and preach the gospel unto the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 22:17-21).
Having The Upper Room Consecration
The Lord Jesus promised He will send the Spirit to be with the disciples, and He didn’t tell them to pray for it – but the disciples got together, 120 of them, with the women and the men, and they prayed steadfastly for the Spirit to be poured out.
They had the “upper room consecration“, the further consecration needed for us to cooperate with God’s move (Acts 1:13-14; Rev. 3:18). Our God in heaven needs men on earth to cooperate with Him for the carrying out of His plan.
There are many believers on the earth, and there were many people Christ reached in His ministry on the earth – but only a handful, 120 of them, set themselves aside to pray for God’s move. Their whole being was held by the heavenly vision, and they dedicated everything in a practical way to God, at any cost.
The Lord’s move is with those who have the upper room consecration, those whose hearts have been touched and whose eyes have been opened to see God’s move and His desire.
It is a small number who see and give themselves to God for this, consecrating themselves for His move – but these ones will turn the world upside down and change the age!
God didn’t give us a plan, a mission, an organization, a budget, or an itinerary – He only wants men who initiate God’s move through prayer on their knees, prayer in one accord for the Lord’s move.
We need to “join God’s army” today by paying the price to have the upper room consecration and pray the prayer that will turn the age!
Lord, open our eyes to see Your desire to return and end this age. May we see Your heart’s desire, and may our hearts be touched. Gain the upper room consecration in us. Lord, we dedicate everything to You in a practical way! May we get together in twos and threes and pray one with You to bind and loose what You have bound and loosed in the heavens. Lord, gain the prayer in one accord for Your move. Gain the prayer that will end this age!
References and Further Reading
- Sharing inspired from brother Andrew Yu’s speaking in this message and portions in, The Heavenly Vision (ch. 6), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on Prayer and the Lord’s Move, week 6 (entitled, A Praying Church in the Unique Stream of the Work of God).
- Further Reading: 1 Tim. 2:8 (footnotes 1, 2, 3, 4); Acts 1:14 (footnotes 1, 3).
- Hymns on this topic:
# “With one accord” within an upper room / The faithful followers of Jesus met: / One was the hope of every waiting soul, / And on one object great each heart was set.
# Lord, behold, all to Thee I yield, / Constrained this day / By compassions never failing, / Thy perfecting care.
# God needs men who pray / … / They love not themselves; / But a willing sacrifice. / What they fear—offending God, losing His presence dear. - Pictures source: with permission via, Inspiration Unlimited (Prayer and the Lord’s Move set).
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Oh Lord Jesus, come in & saturate us that we all may be unveiled to see Your heavenly vision & pray in one accord for the turning of the age as the remnant did all those years ago after You ascended. Let those ones be our pattern for today as Paul said in Rom 15:6 That with one accord you may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen!
1 Tim 2:8 I desire therefore that men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, without wrath & reasoning.
Acts 1:13-14 & when they entered, they went up to the upper room where they were residing, Peter & John & James & Andrew…These all continued steadfastly with one accord in prayer; together with the women & Mary the mother of Jesus, & with His brothers.
‘…prayer gave God a way to come into them, to fill them up, & to saturate their very being…after the Lord’s resurrection & ascension, their spiritual condition changed radically…they also consecrated themselves to the Lord, offering themselves to Him in a very real & practical way…The Lord’s move was with those in the upper room, with those whose eyes had been opened & whose hearts had been touched.’
🙂
When the Lord Jesus was on earth, great crowds followed Him. Multitudes were saved and healed, and multitudes received the favor of God. Eventually, however, there were only about one hundred and twenty in the upper room….The Lord’s move was with those in the upper room, with those whose eyes had been opened and whose hearts had been touched. This small number came into the upper room to be burned, and then they turned the whole world upside down. The principle is the same today. It is a small number who will turn the world upside down and change the age. (The Heavenly Vision, pp. 59, 61, 64)
I enjoyed 1 Timothy 2:8, we need to have a holy life (holy hands) that strengthens and supports our prayer life; our mind and emotion must be regulated to be in a normal condition, under the control of the Spirit within our spirit. Lord, heal us first! Work on our daily living first, deepen Your work in us. Heal our mind, emotion, and will. You are the Sun of righteousness with healing in its wings. We give You the freedom to fly through us, within us, around us, and above us. Open our eyes and touch our hearts with the heavenly vision. Lord, make us pure and single in heart, seeking God’s purpose alone, so we can cooperate with You in an absolute way. Gain our consecration to pray!
I really enjoyed today's Morning Revival. I was particularly impressed with the fact that we must pray first. It's human nature to just jump into things without God and depend on our rational thinking, just like the disciples did before Jesus' resurrection. But we must be those who pray first and over all things. This is such a good pattern to follow because this is a way to allow God to become our first love.
Oh Lord Jesus cause us to be those who are fully obedient to You Lord. Cause us to be those who have the upper room consecration to cooperate with You. Oh Lord Jesus make us Your mature ones, Your mighty ones, ones being one with You. Give us the burden to continue steadfastly with one accord in prayer. Oh Lord Jesus!
Yes, I really enjoyed the matter of the upper room consecration. We shouldn't be luke warm Christians – we should be burning for the Lord and His interests. Just like the 120 who prayed for ten days in one accord. During those ten days in the upper room, everything was dedicated in a practical way and was dedicated at any cost – at the cost of their forefathers' religion, at the cost of their country, at the cost of their relationships with neighbours and friends, at the cost of their relatives and families, and at the cost of their lives. The only thing they cared for was the heavenly vision… Their whole being was held by this heavenly vision; and they were beside themselves with this heavenly vision. This is the kind of consecration we need today.
I enjoyed the same – we need a holy life to support our prayer life. Of course, prayer life is needed in order to have a holy life.
The first praying church was in Acts 1:13-14. The 120 in the upper room in Jerusalem, steadfastly praying with one accord for 10 days, to the ascended Christ. Just suppose they failed to obey the Lord’s charge, then God’s move would have been stopped. But hallelujah by their prayer, giving God a way to come into them to fill them up and to saturate their entire being and they were able to carry out the Lord’s commission and many got saved and their teaching filled Jerusalem. They did all this at a cost for God’s move. After two thousand years, the charge of the Lord is still going on: “unto the uttermost part of the earth.” We thank the Lord, this unique move of the Lord reaches us and we also need to pay a price to be a praying church and even praying in every place. We need to live a life that is pious to strengthen and support our prayer life. Inwardly, we need the growth in life and outwardly we need to flow to bear fruit. We need to pray for God to raise up overcomers. We need to pray that the enemy be bound, because he is frustrating the saints from enjoying Christ, and building with others… “O Lord, we consecrate ourselves to be praying persons so that the move can flow on unto the uttermost part of the earth, to bring You back.”
I'm impressed by the pattern that the apostles set for us in the book of Acts. They were exercised not to do anything without prayer. Their prayer for ten days in the upper room issued in the outpouring of the Spirit and brought in the Lord's move. Throughout the book of Acts, we see that they honored Christ as their Head and source through their prayer.
May we be such ones, like the believers in Acts, who pray in a way that allows God to move in and through us.
Amen, in the books of Acts,there is an opening, but no closing, no conclusion. this is because this stream of life is still flowing and never stop flowing, in the work our of our brothers where the Spirit poured to them. while they pray at the upper room. was the very fact that the flowing of the stream of life is the opening of the stream to flow. and now the recover which is the Body is the contenution of this flow no closing, no conclusion.