In Acts chapter 4, the disciples gathered to pray after receiving multiple venomous threats from the priestly authorities. The power of their prayer was such that when they had finished praying, the place where they gathered was shaken and they were all filled afresh with the Holy Spirit and with boldness.
It is easy for us to visualise this prayer meeting in terms of the styles and methods of prayer to which we are accustomed. But what would it have looked like in the Jewish context of the day and what lessons can we glean for our own prayer life?
Hebraic Prayer Starts with Exalting God
“Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them…” Acts 4:24 NKJV
In response to repeated and stern threats from the leaders of Jewish community, Peter and John gathered the disciples together for an earnest time of prayer. Surprisingly, the disciples did not start their prayer by addressing the threats of persecution staring them straight in the face.
Instead, they followed the traditional Jewish approach to prayer by always, first exalting the Lord as the Almighty Creator.
We see a similar pattern in the Lord’s prayer: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name” (Matt. 6:9, emphasis added).
This is a classic feature of Hebraic prayer where most if not all prayers begin by blessing God and proclaiming His greatness and power, often particularly focusing on Him as the all-powerful Creator of all.
When we approach God in prayer, we need to remind ourselves of His awesome power and majesty. We need to be reminded that we are in the presence of the God who created all things and upholds all things by the Word of His power (Heb. 1:3). By beginning their petitions this way, the Hebrews remind themselves that no matter how great a challenge lies before them, God is infinitely greater and well able to deal with any problem they are facing.
Some years ago I was facing pressing personal challenges, and set aside time to ‘pray through’ the problems. However, by the end of my extended prayer time I felt more drained, more confused and more troubled about the problem than I did when I first started praying! Why? Because I simply just kept re-iterating the problem before God in prayer and the more I have talked about the problem, the ‘bigger’ it has become.
As we focus excessively on the challenges and struggles, unbelief and fear can creep in and the problems can seem even greater than God’s ability to move in our lives. But as we instead exalt the Lord God of Creation first and focus on His power and might, faith grows in our hearts that God indeed can and will move on our behalf.
From Hebraic prayer we therefore learn to begin our prayers by lifting our eyes up to the One who is so much greater than any challenge. And as we do, our perspective is corrected to see the situation from the eyes of our loving Heavenly Father who is always in complete control.
In the next part of this series on Hebraic prayer, we are going continue by examining the need to keep our prayers Bible-based.
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