What Happens When People Pray Together (part 2)

“They all met together and were constantly united in prayer…” (Acts 1:16, NLT)

When people pray together, they become one. Think about the diversity that was in the room. The larger text tells us that there were 120 present, including the apostles, Jesus’ mother and brothers, and some women. Through all of the diversity, they became one in spirit through prayer. Prayer begins as communication. But when prayer occurs with consistency and fervency, communication becomes communion. The result of communion with God is union. As I understand it, prayer begins with talking to God and listening to God about a particular need or concern. Communication (the sending and receiving of messages) is a back and forth exchange. The difference between communication and communion is that it communion, the posture changes from across the table to side by side. Two are in agreement about the same thing. Union occurs when the two become one to the extent that the relationship is more significant than the request. It think that’s what transpired in the upper room over the course of those 10 days between the ascension and Pentecost.

When people pray together, it creates an environment for the Spirit to come. The prayer in the upper room was not a prayer of ignorance. They knew they were to pray with anticipation that God would bestow his Spirit. Though they anticipated the coming of the Spirit, they had no idea what would transpire on the day of Pentecost. Pentecost would arrive and the Spirit would come in breath taking fashion, largely due to the fact that they were in one accord in the upper room. Which leads me to a simple question: What would God do if his people were united in prayer?