使徒言行録1:12-14 Acts 1:12-14,

After Jesus’ ascension into heaven, the eleven disciples gathered on the second floor of the house where they were staying in Jerusalem. The names of the eleven are given in verse 13. They were “Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James.”

These people had lived many different lives before becoming disciples of Jesus. For example, Matthew, a tax collector who collected taxes for the Roman emperor, and Simon the Zealot, a zealous party member who had tried to defeat the Roman rule by force and win Jewish independence, had lived very opposite lives. They also had very different personalities. For example, the passionate Peter and the skeptical Thomas were polar opposites and would have disagreed with each other when they tried to do something together. In addition to these eleven, there were women who had followed Jesus from Galilee, Mary, Jesus’ mother, and the children of Mary and Joseph. It was miraculous that even after Jesus was no longer on earth, such a variety of people were united together in this way.

These different people were able to stay together because of their faith in Jesus. And because they firmly trusted in the words of the promise Jesus made before his ascension into heaven. Jesus had promised as follows. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (1:8).” The eleven disciples, the women and Mary’s sons trusted in this promise and waited with one heart for the day when they would receive the Holy Spirit.

Now, how did those who were to be set up as Jesus’ witnesses prepare themselves to receive the Holy Spirit? “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer.” “Devoting themselves to prayer” means to pray tirelessly and fervently. It is not the kind of prayer that just flares up for a moment and then ends, but the kind of prayer that is persevering and constant. And “with one accord” means “with one mind.” So these people were praying with one mind, hoping and praying that the Holy Spirit would eventually be given to them and that they would be sent to the whole world as witnesses of Jesus.

The prayers of these people would have included what each of them wanted and wished for God to hear. However, they were not praying for their own happiness in a disjointed way. The goal of these people’s prayers was one. It was to receive the Holy Spirit and to be established as witnesses of Jesus. Such united prayer was a fitting preparation for receiving the Holy Spirit. What do you pray about every day? Let us pray so that we can receive the Holy Spirit from Jesus in heaven and live a life of witnessing to Jesus.