How I Think Affects My Prayer Life – Part 2

Acts 1:14 AMP “All of these with their minds in full agreement devoted themselves steadfastly to prayer, [waiting together] with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.”

The 120 disciples who were waiting in the upper room for what Jesus had promised devoted themselves steadfastly to prayer for 10 days.  How long do you think it took them to get to the place where their minds were in full agreement?  Why was it so important that they come corporately as one, rather than as 120 individuals?  What do you suppose were some of the mindsets that had to be eliminated before their prayers would be heard and not hindered, and what did they do to overcome them so they would be in unity?

At that time in history, women were not considered equal to men, particularly regarding religious matters.  Though Jesus had certainly made clear by His life and words that all were the same in the eyes of the Lord, old thought patterns die hard.  It’s probably safe to say that there were issues in the minds of both the men and the women that had to be exposed and eliminated.  It would likely have been part of the “Yes, but” mentality.  “Yes, I know God loves every one of us.  Yes, I know there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for we are all one in Christ, but . . . they are slaves, so I am better than they.”  Or, “I am a slave, so I can’t pray equally with them.”  Or, “I am a Jew.”  Or, “I am male.”  Or, “I was never a prostitute like Mary Magdalene.”  Or, “I’m from this part of the land, so they aren’t on par with me.”  They were all headed to the Upper Room with the same purpose of waiting for the promise of the Father, but the attitudes and mindsets that distracted them from that purpose and praying in unity had to be dealt with before they ever got there.

What about us?  What if we found ourselves in a room full of believers of all shapes, sizes, nationalities, colors, economic backgrounds, denominations, languages, etc.?  Would we be in unity as we prayed?  Would we even be willing to stay in the same room as others who weren’t like us?  Would we be willing to come in the first place, knowing that some of our brothers and sisters who were coming weren’t exactly like us?  Let’s make it even more personal.  Would one of the characteristics named above turn you away?  Would something else stop you?  If the answer is yes, your prayers would be hindered.  More importantly, even if you are never faced with the opportunity to gather with those people physically, your prayers are already hindered.

Mark 11:25  “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”  NIV

Colossians 3:13  “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”  NIV

You say, “But I don’t need to forgive them.  They haven’t really done anything to me that I need to forgive.”  Maybe they haven’t, but you are holding something against them as part of a group.  You are prejudiced toward them.  Your mindset, the filter through which you think about things, has you holding something against an entire category of people, having a grievance against them, whether they ever did anything personally to you or not.  Whether it makes sense to your mind or not, the Bible tells you what you need to do.  You need to forgive them.  If you don’t, the Scripture is very clear that the Father will not forgive you, and that is a major hindrance to effective prayer and everything else in your Christian walk.

Let’s think of this in a word picture.  According to the Bible, the church is one body, of which Jesus is the head.  Suppose the little finger won’t have anything to do with the ring finger, the upper arm wants to bypass the shoulder and neck to get directly to the Head, the thigh wants nothing to do with the torso, and the major organs want to be in the neck’s place so they can be connected directly to the Head without having to deal with the rest of they body.  It doesn’t work that way.  The natural body functions properly when all the parts submit to the desire of the head and are connected properly.  Jesus sees His body as one in Him, and He wants us to see ourselves accordingly, letting our mindsets and our whole lives be changed by His Word.

Really, we are like those 120 who were waiting for the Promise.  All of us who believe in Jesus Christ and His Word are waiting for the promise of His return.  Could we be delaying it by our divisive mindsets?  If all the different disciples of that day were able to let the Lord eliminate those thought patterns, so can we.  We must take captive every thought, even the most deep-seated of them, to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-5.)  We must set our minds and keep them set on what is above (Colossians 3:2.)  We must repent of having offense concerning our brothers and sisters.  We must forgive them and stay in that mindset of forgiveness.  And we must love our brother as Christ does – unconditionally (John 13:34-35, 1 Peter 1:22, 1 John 4.)

The Lord has so many people to touch and so many plans to complete in these last days, as we wait for the promise of His return, yet He will do them only in response to our prayers.  How critical it is, then, for every prayer we pray to be heard and answered, without hindrance.  Let’s humble ourselves and repent, get our focus off ourselves and back on Him – Who He is, and what He came to do.  Let’s devote ourselves steadfastly to prayer – with our minds in full agreement – for the glory of God!

© Copyright 2006 Kay V. Stocking