After a fast start and a relatively peaceful beginning, the early church began to experience the persecution that Jesus warned them about in the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 5:10-12 (ESV)
¹⁰  “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹  “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. ¹²  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

With an overwhelming acceptance of the gospel of Christ in Jerusalem, some Christians may have thought they were doing something wrong.  They were not being persecuted for righteousness’ sake.  There was no reviling taking place.  Instead, thousands of people were believing and being baptized.  In Acts 2:41 we read of about 3,000 people being baptized.  By Acts 4, the number of men alone had swollen to about 5,000 (Acts 4:4).

Something else happened in Acts 4.  The Jewish leaders became annoyed by the apostles’ teaching and arrested Peter and John (Acts 4:3).  The next day the Sanhedrin brought the apostles before them and questioned them about the crippled man who had previously been healed.  Peter boldly told them that it was by the name of Jesus that the man was healed, and courageously let the Sanhedrin know that they were the infamous builders who rejected the Messiah (Psalm 118:22).

At this point, the apostles were only threatened, but soon the persecution would turn physical (Acts 5:40).  How did the church handle the persecution?  They gathered to pray for the help of God, and the courage to keep on preaching (Acts 4:23-31).

The first-century church was a praying church.  They knew that in times of crisis, they needed the help of God, and prayer was a way to ascertain it.

Hebrews 4:16 (KJV)
¹⁶  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.  

In Acts 12, we find the persecution against the church continued.  James became the first apostle to be martyred, and Peter was arrested, sure to be next.  How did the church respond?  Once again, they gathered to pray (Acts 12:12).

Is the local church of which you are a member a praying church?  The answer is determined by the practice of its membership.  Yes, churches can and should pray when they assemble to worship God.  Most churches could probably pray more collectively.  Having special prayer services before certain events like gospel meetings is a good idea.  But a church can be a praying church without extra prayer services.  What every local church needs are members who spend a lot of time praying in the privacy of their own homes, praying for growth, the sick, and the overall wellbeing of the church.

The question is, are you contributing to your local church being a praying church?  When is the last time you spent more than five minutes praying for your local church?  Do you pray for the church daily?  What if every member of your local church answered these questions the same way as you?  Would your church be a praying church? 

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.