Ingredients of Effective Prayer

Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night?
–Luke 18:7

King Herod arrested the apostle Peter, intending to execute him. But while Peter was in prison, “prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God” (Acts 12:5). James Montgomery Boice noted a few characteristics of the church’s prayers that caused God to answer in a powerful way.

First of all, as we saw yesterday, the church prayed to God. They weren’t praying to impress others or to praise themselves. Second, the church prayed earnestly. The Greek word in verse 5 translated as “fervently” refers to a muscle that is stretched to the limit. These were not routine “Now I lay me down to sleep” prayers; the church was praying earnestly and intensely. In Matthew 6:7–8, Jesus said God isn’t impressed by the number of words or the repetition in our prayers; God notices the earnestness with which we pray.

In Luke 18, Jesus told a parable to show the disciples “that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart” (v. 1). In the parable, a mistreated widow goes to a judge to ask for relief. The judge doesn’t fear God or care about the widow, so he tells her no. But she keeps asking until finally the judge gives in because the widow is wearing him out. Jesus was saying in verse 7, “If an unrighteous judge is willing to help a widow he doesn’t care about, how much more will our righteous heavenly Father do for His children who plead with Him day and night?” Peter’s arrest was so important to the Christians in Jerusalem that they had an all-night prayer meeting about it.

Third, they prayed specifically. Many of our prayers suffer from what I call bless-itis: “Bless this, bless that, bless everybody.” But the church at Jerusalem prayed specifically for Peter and his situation. Why do we often lack specificity in our prayers? It may be that we don’t want to be disappointed if God doesn’t answer the way we want or that we’re not sure God can pull off our requests. But a prerequisite to big blessings in our lives is to pray for big things.

What concerns do you have in your life right now that you’re willing to spend more than a few minutes praying about? God takes notice of prayers that are earnest and specific.

Today’s devotion is adapted from “Persecution, Prison, and Prayer,” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2022.

James Montgomery Boice, Acts: An Expositional Commentary (Baker, 1997), 211.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.