And when they heard...they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said....When we as believers come together collectively in united prayer, the Spirit of the Lord moves among us. We experience a fullness of the Spirit that cannot be obtained by any other kind of prayer.
(Acts 4:24)
United prayer brings powerful results. It doesn't just change the life of one individual; it affects entire groups of people.
Real united prayer can affect an entire church, city, state or even a nation. It creates an open heaven where there is no opposition in the spirit realm and clears the way for God to move freely.
Great things happen under an open heaven. When the heavens opened over Jacob in Genesis 28, he saw the Lord and received a blessing from Him that affected not just Jacob, but millions of his descendants. God said:
I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.That is the result of an open heaven.
Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
(vv. 13-14)
According to Mark 1:9-10, Jesus saw an open heaven when He came up out of the water after being baptized: "And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
If you continue reading, you'll find that after the heavens were opened, things began happening "immediately." Immediately a fever left. Immediately leprosy departed. Immediately he took up his bed and walked.
It is clear that an open heaven provides immediate miracles.
Recently, when I was reading about a missionary who was working in the mountains of Brazil and Uruguay, I saw a wonderful example of what happens when people in a nation pray together and open the heavens.
The border of the two nations ran down the center of the street, with Brazil on one side and Uruguay on the other. As the missionary began handing out tracts, he noticed something very powerful. On the Uruguayan side of the street, not one person took a tract. Not one.
They would snub him and walk away. On the Brazilian side of the street, however, everyone took a tract and thanked him for it. After an hour, he saw a woman from the Uruguayan side of the street who had refused a tract walk across to the Brazilian side.
He followed her across the street and tried to give her a tract again. This time she took it and said, "Thank you very much. I appreciate it."
Why did that happen? It was a direct result of opposition in the realm of the spirit over Uruguay, and an open heaven over Brazil. We need an open heaven, and the way to get one is to pray corporately in one accord.
That's the reason Dr. David Cho is having so much success in Korea. He has an army of people who are powerful in prayer, and it has created an open heaven.
United Prayer In Times of Crisis
In the Bible, we see a particular situation where united prayer is necessary: during a time of crisis. If you've ever taken part in united prayer, you know that there is a real note of power that comes forth from it. That's why this is the prayer to pray in times of crisis. It accesses the power of God.
You can see a demonstration of that in Acts 4, when the religious leaders threatened to hurt Peter and John unless they stopped preaching about Jesus. At that moment, the members of the early church were facing a crisis. What did they do?
And being let go, [Peter and John] went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.If you want to know the key to effective united prayer, read that last verse again. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. What makes this kind of prayer work is not how many people you gather. It's the unity of the hearts.
And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, by stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.
And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.
(vv. 23-32)
Notice in verse 24 it said they lifted up their voice. Not voices. Not one person lifting up his voice, but all of them lifting up one voice. United prayer is a chorus of people praying with one mind. In heaven, it is recorded as one voice.
Such power can be generated through that kind of unity so that, in this instance, it even shook the building. What's more, this united prayer meeting not only changed circumstances, it changed the people who were praying as well.
Another example of crisis praying is found in Acts 12:
Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also, (then were the days of unleavened bread).The power of their united prayer stripped off Peter's chains. There are times when the Church needs chain-stripping power today, and united prayer is the way to access it.
And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.
This certainly constitutes a crisis! Herod had killed James and imprisoned Peter. Fortunately, the Church remembered the power of united prayer before Peter suffered James's fate. Look at what happened when they prayed.
Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.
And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.
And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.
(vv. 1-7)
If you continue reading that chapter, you'll see that an angel appeared in the prison and supernaturally got him out past the soldiers on guard! Now that's effective prayer!
by Lynne Hammond and Patsy Cameneti.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers