Tuesday after Rogate, 5/11/99

Acts 5: 24
When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God.
--NIV

In the name of the One to Whom we pray, amen.

Yesterday we briefly looked at the fact that prayer is an act of worship.
 We noted that we should not be led in prayer by someone who does not
teach the pure truth.  In the passage we are considering today, we see
that where there is unity of faith, we should pray together.  We see that
even in the opening words of our Lord's prayer, "Our Father..."

Praying together means unity in prayer.  It means that we come together
as one body in Christ Jesus.  It means that we put away our infighting. 
We work to resolve our differences so that we may raise our prayer to God
with one voice.  When we pray in this way, our prayers rise before God as
incense.

But unity doesn't come easily to us.  It is difficult.  We tend to be
self centered.  What other people need tends to be a distant second to
what we want.  So, we need help in being unified.  Unity comes to us when
we focus on Christ.  It comes when we humbly bow to His holy Word, and
trust it.  When we are faithful to the Word, and focus on Christ, we will
be unified when we pray.  Being faithful to the Word is the key, because
the Holy Spirit works through the Word to focus our attention on Christ. 
May God grant us unity in this way.  Amen.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly Father, forgive us for focusing on our selfish wants,
rather than the needs of your people.  Make us faithful to Your Holy Word
so that the Holy Spirit will focus our attention on our Savior.  Help us
to pray with one voice, amen.