Deeper Reflection
FOLLOWING JESUS’ ASCENSION, THE ELEVEN RETURNED to Jerusalem, huddling in the upper room and “devoting themselves to prayer” (v.14). They had learned from Jesus that “prayer is the attitude that grooms one to receive the comfort of God’s presence and the demands of God’s marching orders”⁶.Against this backdrop, Peter “stood up among the believers” (v.15). Representing the eleven, Peter put forward the necessity of replacing Judas, the twelfth. Peter’s stepping up to lead proceeded from the believers’ ongoing prayerfulness. While he set forth the biblical imperative (vv.16, 20) and the requisite qualifications (vv.21-22), the decision between the final candidates, however, was submitted to the Lord, again, in prayer (v.24). The believers prayed for the Lord to exercise divine choice, as only He had knowledge of the hearts of all.⁷Prayer paved the way to ready the hearts of the believers for Peter’s call to action. Prayer paved the way for God’s sovereign will in the final selection of Matthias. Prayer paved the way too, for the subsequent coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (cf. Acts 2:1) and for the empowerment to boldly proclaim God’s Word in the face of persecution (cf. Acts 4:31). Prayer paved the way, ultimately, in the grand fulfilment of Jesus’ commission for Peter and the apostles to be His witnesses “in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).No undertaking to stand up to do God’s work should be apart from prayer, just as no endeavour in world missions — to disciple the nations, no less! — must be undertaken if not first paved by prayer.

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⁶ David E. Garland, Acts, ed. Mark L. Strauss and John H. Walton, Teach the Text Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books: A Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2017), 20. ⁷ I. Howard Marshall, Acts: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 5, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1980), 71.