This is the day the Lord has made, and we are glad and rejoice in it.
Let us come before our God in prayer and supplication.
Father we pray to you this morning for Your creation, and especially for the people that are called by Your name everywhere. There is much turmoil in the lands including in America. But we are not shaken. We know that You remain on Your throne and that Jesus is at Your right hand. We hold steadfast to Your promises – even in the midst of the sin and evil around us. We thank You for Your son Jesus who died on the cross for our sin, so that we may be saved.
During the forty days after Jesus suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles and proved to them in many ways that he was alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God. During this time, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
After Jesus had ascended into heaven, the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. When they arrived, they went to the upper room they had been using as a meeting place. Your Word tells us what happened next:
“They all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.” (ACTS 1:14)
Father, help us to likewise adopt an Upper Room Posture. We pray for wisdom to know and embrace what such a posture looks like. Through Your Word we know that :
- An Upper Room Posture is Obedient. The early Church did just as they were commanded, to return to Jerusalem and wait.
- An Upper Room Posture is prayerful.
- An Upper Room Posture acts in unity, encouraging and supporting one another.
- An Upper Room Posture acknowledges and praises You with thanksgiving and wholehearted devotion for past mercies and future promises, having faith in the teaching of Jesus Christ our Lord.
- An Upper Room Posture disciples, telling people everywhere about Jesus, even to the ends of the earth.
Father, give our generation the light of the knowledge of You in Christ. Disrupt and refine our routines so that we find the delights of Your Upper Room again. Show us Your glory and make us one! Lord, we pray today that in our current fallen world we adopt an Upper Room Posture like that of Your original apostles and earliest disciples. Help us to be vessels demonstrating lives of obedience. Use each of us, in some small way, to begin the Return and revival that this nation and world need.
Amen