We need the Prayer the Early Disciples had to Match our Activities as the Acting God

The book of Acts shows us the prayer we need in order to be filled with the Spirit essentially and economically so that all our activities would be the activities of the acting God; we need the prayer that brings in the outpouring of the Spirit, that shook the earth and empowered the disciples, and that brings us into a trance.

This doesn’t mean that we need to speak the same words or utter the same prayer; it means that we need to read and pray over the book of Acts, asking the Lord to give us the same kind of prayer today so that we may cooperate with Him for His move on the earth today.

The early disciples cooperated with the Lord for His move on earth at that time, and their actions were matched by their prayer.

They didn’t just work or propagate Christ; they prayed and prayed and prayed, and as a result of prayer, things happened, the Lord had a way to move, and the propagation of Christ was with the saints.

To pray is to realise that by ourselves, with ourselves, and in ourselves, we are nothing. We don’t want to do anything in ourselves but in the Lord, with the Lord, by the Lord, and through the Lord.

We want to be fully in the Triune God, one with Him in every possible way, so that we may allow Him to do what He wants to do through us and in us. If we are able to do something, if we know what to do or think we know what needs to be done, we have the tendency not to pray.

But if we can’t do something or don’t know what to do in a particular situation, we pray. May we have the deep realisation that we don’t know where we are, we don’t know what to do, and we can’t do what the Lord wants us to do.

We simply can’t do it, we can’t be it, and we can’t live out Christ; we depend on the Lord, that is, we depend on prayer. Apart from the Lord, we truly can do nothing.

The book of Acts shows us the activities of the apostles, and their activities were matched by their prayers.

They didn’t just work, preach the gospel, and perform miracles; in all things, before all things, through all things, and after all things, they prayed.

And the prayer they had changed things, had an impact, and the Lord had a way to move. We need to learn to pray the way the disciples in Acts prayed.

We need to have the kind of prayer that can shake the environment, shake the foundations of the prison, shake the earth, shake off the chains, and open the doors.

We need to have the prayer that brings us into a trance, brings us into God, and brings God into us.

Through our prayer, we can accomplish all the crucial steps for the Body of Christ to be built up organically through our work.

We need the Prayer that Brought in the Outpouring of the Spirit

As the continuation of the book of Acts today, as those who are the continuation of Christ on this earth, we need to have the prayer that brought in the outpouring of the Spirit (Acts 1:14; 2:1-4, 16-17).

What kind of prayer is this? This is not a common prayer. The one hundred twenty saints prayed with one accord for ten days, and as a result, the outpouring of the Spirit came.

God was so pleased with their prayer in one accord that He poured out His entire being, the Spirit.

God on His side was processed and consummated, and He became the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit.

He had already breathed into the disciples on the evening of the day of the Lord’s resurrection, and the disciples were now children of God, believers in Christ, members of the Body of Christ.

However, they still needed to pray themselves into God and pray God into them.

They needed to pray in one accord until the Spirit was outpoured upon them and the Body of Christ was baptised with the Holy Spirit.

Their prayer in one accord brought God from the heavens to the earth and upon themselves. Wow!

Our prayer is like our breathing; when we breathe, air gets into us and we get into the air, and air is poured upon us.

We need to learn to pray in one accord as the disciples did so that the outpouring of the Spirit may be brought in.

When we pray in one accord, when we continue steadfastly with one accord in prayer for some time together with all the saints, we will experience the outpouring of the Spirit.

When we experience the outpoured Spirit through our prayer, we will be refreshed to the uttermost. May we all give ourselves to have such a prayer today!

Lord Jesus, we want to have the prayer that brought in the outpouring of the Spirit! May we give ourselves to You and be with the saints in one accord in prayer so that the Spirit may be outpoured. Oh Lord, we open to You. We open to one another. We want to breathe You in and breathe ourselves out. Fill us with Yourself and even clothe us with the Spirit. Grant us the prayer that we need in order for the Spirit to be outpoured on us. Pour out Your entire being upon us to refresh us and fill us! Amen, Lord, may we all continue steadfastly with one accord in prayer together with all the saints so that You may be able to pour out Your whole being upon us!

We need the Prayer that Shakes the Earth and Empowers us with the Spirit to Speak the Word with Boldness

In Acts 4:24-31 we see a particular kind of prayer that the disciples had; it was a prayer that shook the earth and empowered them with the Holy Spirit for the speaking of the word of God with boldness.

Though the disciples were persecuted for the sake of the Lord, they prayed with one accord (v. 24) according to the word of God (vv. 25-28), claiming the divine power through the name of Jesus (vv. 29-30). Wow!

They didn’t look at the environment, which was against them, nor did they look at the people around them, many of whom persecuted them.

They looked to the Lord, stood on God’s word, claimed the divine power, and spoke the word with boldness. This is a pattern to us in our prayer life today.

The prayer that we need today is the prayer that shakes the earth and empowers us with the Holy Spirit to speak the word of God with all boldness.

When we exercise our spirit and pray in one accord, we realise that many times our environment is a lie.

We don’t look at our environment, nor do we base our prayer on our situation or condition; we look to the Lord, we stand on His word, and we pray in one accord.

For example, we may go to preach the gospel, but we may think that people are closed and will not talk to us; this is to believe the environment and not the word of God.

We may have a feeling within us that people will not open the door to us, or they will not talk to us. This is a lie from the enemy; if we believe this lie and stand on it, our going is vain.

We need to pray to shake the environment. We need to pray ourselves into God and pray God into us.

We need to pray to shake the environment and change it so that God would come in.

When we pray in this way, we will be filled with the economical Spirit, that is, we will be clothed with the Spirit as the power, and we will speak the word of God with boldness.

May we not believe the environment but rather, believe that our prayer will change the environment for the Lord to come in and propagate Himself.

Lord Jesus, may we pray the prayer that shakes the environment and empowers us with the Holy Spirit to speak the word of God with boldness. Amen, Lord, we believe in You, we stand on Your word, and we do not look at the environment. We do NOT believe what we see outwardly: we believe into the Lord Jesus and we stand on His living word! Amen, Lord, we pray with one accord with the saints and we go in Your name, having the power of the Spirit to preach the word of God with boldness! We believe that we are filled with the economical Spirit and we have the boldness to speak the word of God! Amen, Lord, we don’t believe the environment; we believe in our prayer one with the Lord to change the environment so that Christ may be propagated!

We need the Prayer of the Apostles to Match the Ministry of the Word

In Acts 6:4 we see that the apostles decided to continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word.

The prayer we need today is the prayer of the apostles to match the ministry of the word. Such a prayer is not only to entreat the Lord to do things for His move but also to cause our spirit to be exercised and strengthened.

We need to not only give ourselves to do the ministry of the word but even more, have the prayer that we need to carry out our ministry.

Any time we minister the Word, we need the matching prayer.

On the one hand, we need to have the constitution with the Word of God, the rich deposit of the healthy words. On the other hand, we need the prayer that matches the ministry of the Word.

If we don’t have the matching prayer to give livingness to our speaking, we are short, and the church will not be blessed.

We may have a burden, we may want to share something with the new ones we are shepherding, but we need the prayer.

We need personal prayer and we also need pray with those who are with us, those who serve together with us.

Prayer gives life to the speaking of the Word. Our prayer should precede the ministry of the Word, just as the apostles did.

Without such prayer, the ministry of the word will not be enlivened and empowered.

We need the Prayer that Brings us into a Trance and Brings the Heavenly Vision to us

In Acts 10 we see a particular kind of prayer – the prayer that brought Peter into a trance and brought a heavenly vision to him. This was a prayer at the appointed time (v. 9), and this prayer brought Peter into a conversation with the Lord (vv. 13-16).

The prayer we need today is the prayer that brings us into a trance (22:17).

What does it mean for us to be in a trance as a result of prayer? A trance is to move out of ourselves and into the Triune God to see Him and hear Him, even to have a conversation with Him.

We are imprisoned in the self; we need to break out of that imprisonment through prayer. We need to pray out of the imprisonment of the self.

When we are out of ourselves and into God, when we’re in a trance as a result of our prayer, we can receive visions of God. May we see that our self is a strong prison that we need to get out of, and may we pray ourselves into a trance!

Many times, as we contact the Lord in the morning in our morning watch with Him, we have the sensation that we are limited by the self, imprisoned in the self, and we can’t break through. So we pray ourselves into the spirit to break through out of the self! Amen!

We may be in suffering and we may not be able to touch the Lord, but at one point, we touch Him in a deeper way, turning to Him from deep within, and we sense that He is with us; we are so close to Him, for He is right there with us.

When we pray into a trance, we will forget about our situation, our problem, and everything and everyone around us, and we simply converse with the Lord.

Peter had a conversation with the Lord, and He had a way to expose Peter’s religious concepts and change them. When we read and pray over the word of God, opening to the Lord in our reading and prayer, we get out of ourselves and into a trance.

Then, we just converse with the Lord – He speaks to us and we speak to Him. When we get out of ourselves and into the Triune God by means of our prayer, we have the sensation that we are so close to God.

We are in a conversation with the Lord in which we talk to the Lord and He talks to us. He reveals to us what is on His heart and we open our heart to Him. How much we need this kind of prayer that gets us out of ourselves!

Lord Jesus, we need the prayer that brings us out of ourselves and into a trance so that we may see the heavenly vision! Amen, Lord, teach us how to pray. Teach us how to pray at the appointed time to break through and come out of ourselves. May we pray ourselves into a trance to come out of ourselves and be in the Triune God. Oh, from ourselves deliver! Break through in us! Cause us to break through out of ourselves! May we get into God and have an intimate conversation with God! Oh Lord, we love You and we love to be in Your presence, close to You, conversing with You! May we pray until we get out of ourselves and are face to face with You, having an intimate talk with You and hearing Your speaking!

We need the Prayer that Opens the Prison Gate and sets us Free

In Acts 12:4-14 we see the prayer that opened the prison gate for Peter, for him to be released from prison. Peter was put in prison, chained to a guard, but prayer was made fervently by the church to God concerning him. Oh, what a fervent prayer this was!

Because of such prayer, the gates were opened, the chains fell off, and Peter walked out of prison.

It was truly a miracle, for everyone else was sleeping, and Peter simply walked out of prison, unnoticed. We need to have such a prayer today.

We may not be in a physical prison but we may be imprisoned in the self.

We may notice a brother or a sister who is simply chained in the self, not being able to break through at all.

Instead of criticising them or judging them, we need to have fervent prayer that opens the prison gate and sets them free.

We need to pray for one another, and we need to pray for ourselves also, to break free from the prison of the self.

We are so bound in the self, and we are chained in the prison of the self.

So we need to have both personal and corporate prayer, even have the prayer that causes us to break through, be freed from anything that chains us, and brings us back to the fellowship of the church!

May we remain in fellowship with the saints daily, even remain in prayer in one accord with one another, so that we may fan one another into flame and be freed from any chains of the self!

Lord Jesus, free us from the imprisonment of the self! Free us from the chains of the self which hold us prisoners! We want to pray ourselves into You, even to pray ourselves out of any imprisonment of the self! Oh Lord, may we enjoy the glorious and wonderful freedom in Christ! Amen, from our self deliver, from all its misery! Break through in us! Break through the prison of the self and remove the chains that hold us down. We want to enjoy freedom in Christ and in the church! Amen, Lord, we pray for our brothers and sisters who are imprisoned in the self: set them free! Release fervent prayer in the church for all those who are in the prison of the self that their chains would fall of, the prison door would open, and they would walk out free, being fully recovered to the fellowship in the church life!

We need the Prayer that Brings us into the Lord’s Commission

In Acts 13:1-4 we see the prayer that brought the five prophets and teachers into the Lord’s commission. Five brothers came together to pray, and they prayed themselves into the speaking of the Spirit and into the Lord’s commission.

This must be the experience not only of the leading ones and those who serve the Lord full time, but our experience as well.

Those who serve full-time and the leading brothers should not serve according to a schedule or a man-made organisation but according to the leading of the Spirit, which comes out of much prayer both personally and corporately.

And we all, as we pray personally before the Lord and especially as we pray with our prayer companions and in the vital groups, we need to spend much time in prayer to pray ourselves into the leading of the Spirit, having His commission.

In the case of the five brothers in Acts 13, as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit told them to set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work He called them.

They then, after praying and fasting, laid their hands on them and sent them; the two, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, went and did the work the Lord sent them to do.

It was the Spirit who initiated, and the Body cooperated; then the Body sent those two out, and they were sent by the Holy Spirit.

May we have the prayer that causes us to be one with the Spirit, even to sense the moving of the Spirit in our prayer.

May we have the experience of praying ourselves into the Spirit until we sense the Spirit’s leading. First of all, we should pray. A proper church is a praying church.

The elders need to take the lead to pray and be a pattern of prayer, and we all need to follow by praying, even praying ourselves into the Spirit.

Lord Jesus, grant us to have the prayer that brings us into the Spirit and makes clear to us what the Lord’s commission is. May we give ourselves to the Lord to minister to Him in prayer with the saints so that we may pray ourselves into the Spirit! Oh Lord, may we first of all pray! May we not do that much or first have many activities outwardly; may we pray first of all! May our prayer cause us to move out of ourselves and into the Triune God to the extent that we are fully one with God! Amen, Lord, have a free way to speak to us and lead us, even to commission us for Your work. Have a free way to move in us and among us. You know the work that needs to be done; we simply want to minister to You and pray, being fully open to You for Your leading!

We need the prayer that Shakes the Foundations of the Prison House and that Brings us into a Trance and into the Lord’s Speaking

In Acts 16:23-26 we see the story of Paul and Silas being beaten with many stripes, thrown in prison, and being in the inner prison, having their feet secured in the stocks.

Then, about midnight, while praying, Paul and Silas sang hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

Then suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken, all the doors of the prison were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. Wow! What a prayer is this!

The prayer that we need is the prayer that brought in a great earthquake and shook the foundations of the prison house.

We may not be in a physical prison, but we may be in a situation in which we are persecuted for the Lord, or we may be imprisoned in a certain situation or environment.

Even there, in the midst of hardships, tough limitations, and persecutions, we can praise the Lord, sing praises to Him, while praying, and we can give Him all the glory.

Such a prayer will cause the foundations of the prison house to be shaken, and any bonds will be loosed and fall to the ground. May we learn to pray in this way.

May we not allow the environment or the persecution lock us up or imprison us and put us down; rather, may we pray and sing, sing and pray, and declare the Lord’s word until He does something in us and around us! Amen!

In Acts 22:17-21, we see the prayer that brought Paul into a trance and into the Lord’s speaking.

When he prayed to the Lord in the temple, he went into a trance, and he received the Lord’s specific instructions to go from the Jewish people to the Gentiles, for the Jews had rejected the Lord and persecuted His followers.

The prayer that we need today is the prayer that brings us into a trance and into the Lord’s speaking, even into His specific leading.

It was not only Peter who had such an experience of praying and being brought into a trance, but Paul also did.

We can also have such an experience today.

We may not be the ones who are used by God to open entire countries or cities for the Lord as Paul and Peter did, but in our own environment and situation, we can pray ourselves into a trance.

We need such a prayer today, the prayer that brings us into a trance and into the Lord’s speaking to us.

Lord Jesus, we open to You in our prayer today. Wherever we are, whatever we do, and whatever happens to us, we want to pray. Amen, Lord, even when we’re imprisoned and locked up in a particular situation or environment, we want to sing praises to You while praying! May prayer be our habit in all things. May we have the prayer that brings in an earthquake and shakes the foundation of the prison house we’re in! Amen, Lord Jesus, no matter what happens, keep us in prayer! May we have the prayer that brings us into a trance and into the Lord’s speaking to us. May we have set times of prayer and may we really open to You for You to speak to us what You need to speak to us. Amen, Lord, gain such a prayer in us!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1989, vol. 1, “The Practical and Organic Building Up of the Church,” ch. 9, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, One Accord and Crucial Aspects of the Book of Acts (2025 April ITERO), week 3, Maintaining the One Accord by the Three Substances of the Power in the Lord’s Recovery – Prayer, the Spirit, and the Word – day 5.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Prayer is the mightiest force of earth and heaven, / Prayer is the very dynamite of God; / It moves the hand that all things moves, and turns / The living wheels that sweep through earth abroad. / Teach us to pray! Move on our hearts, O Lord, / Till Thine own passion all our being move! / Teach us! Pray in us, till our prayer shall be / Christ in us praying to the Christ above! (Hymns #762 stanzas 7-8)
  – Pray with one accord in spirit, / Pray and watch persistently; / For God’s kingdom and His glory, / Pray and watch in harmony. / Pray with one accord in spirit / Seeking God in unity; / In the Spirit of the Body / Ever pray in harmony. (Hymns #779 stanzas 5-6)
  – Pray to touch the throne of God / By the hand of living faith; / Exercise authority / Over all the pow’r of death. / Pray to touch the throne of God, / Pray to shake the evil pow’r; / Pray with kingship on the throne, / Pray with Christ this very hour. (Hymns #783 stanzas 5-6)