$ USD
When Faith Rises Together
Reading the account of the early Church in Acts, it is easy for our attention to be drawn immediately to the extraordinary things that were happening.
“Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.”
Acts 2:43
Signs and wonders. Miraculous healings. Lives transformed. Thousands coming to faith. There was an unmistakable demonstration of the power of God among His people. And perhaps, when we read passages like this, there can be a temptation to look at our own lives and wonder why we do not see more of the same. We pray for someone and nothing appears to change. We ask God to move and perhaps do not see the breakthrough we hoped for. Somewhere along the way, we can begin to wonder whether we are doing something wrong, whether our faith is somehow inadequate, or even whether we have failed.
But today, as I was reading Acts 2, I felt drawn not simply to the signs and wonders, but to everything surrounding them. The believers were together. They shared what they had. They cared for one another. They ate together. They prayed together. They worshipped together. There was generosity, fellowship, reverence and a remarkable unity among them. The power of God was moving within the context of a body. And I wonder whether sometimes we have made something corporate far too individual.
We can become so focused on whether I prayed the right prayer, whether I have enough faith, whether I saw the miracle, or whether God moved through me, that we forget that Scripture continually brings us back to the Body of Christ. We belong to one another. We have different gifts, different roles and different ways in which God works through us, but together we are His Church.
That means I do not need to regard myself as a failure because someone else prayed and saw the breakthrough I had been longing for. If God moves through another believer, He has moved among us. There is something wonderfully freeing about that.
Paul describes the Church as one body with many members. A hand does not need to become an eye, and an eye does not need to become a foot. Each part has its place, but life comes as those parts belong to one another and function together.
Perhaps the question, then, is not simply, “Why isn’t God doing this through me?” Perhaps a better prayer is, “Lord, would You move among us?” Would You confirm Your Word? Would You heal? Would You restore? Would You save? Would You give wisdom, prophecy, encouragement, generosity, mercy and faith throughout Your people? Would You make us increasingly attentive to what Your Spirit is doing through the whole Body rather than preoccupied with what He is or is not doing through us individually?
And alongside that prayer for God’s power must surely be a prayer for something Acts seems unwilling to separate from it: our love and unity.
Jesus Himself prayed that His people would be one. Not uniform, not identical, but joined together in Him. There is something about a people who genuinely love one another, carry one another, pray for one another and seek God together that reveals Him to the world in a way an individual life never can. Maybe that is part of why the account in Acts is so striking. God was not merely displaying His power through spectacular moments; He was creating a people. A community in which somebody’s need became everybody’s concern.
A people who wanted to be together. A people who prayed together. A people among whom the fear of God was present. A people whose shared life looked so different that others were drawn towards it. And “the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47).
There is a challenge in that for us.
We absolutely should pray for signs and wonders. We should ask God to heal, restore, intervene and demonstrate His power. We should expect Him to work through His people and desire to see His Word confirmed in the lives of those around us. But perhaps our prayer should be larger than “Lord, use me.”
“Lord, move among us.”
Increase our love for one another. Deepen our unity. Teach us to carry one another’s burdens rather than merely our own. Give us a holy fear of You. Make us a people who pray together, believe together and seek You together. And when You give one person faith, let all of us rejoice. When You use another person powerfully, let all of us celebrate. When one part of the Body suffers, teach us to suffer with them; and when one part rejoices, teach us genuinely to rejoice too.
Perhaps one of the things God wants to restore is not merely powerful individuals, but a powerful Church. Not powerful because of personalities, gifting or reputation, but because His Spirit is alive among us who have learned to love Him and love one another.
Our prayer can be that faith would rise among us. That His power would not be absent from His Church. That our communities would encounter something of the reality of God through His people. And perhaps it begins not with asking, “Why isn’t God moving through me?” but with all of us together saying: “Lord, move among us.”
