Reading: “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.” Acts 1:14

Prior to His ascension Christ told His disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel. But before that they were to wait in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high.

That latter instruction was difficult—it took patience. There was a great work to be done, a vast world to be reached, and a singular gospel to preach; the tendency would have been to rush on. Yet the disciples were to wait and wait in Jerusalem, a place with many unhappy memories and many real dangers. But the Lord gave grace to wait, and the grace of patience was exercised in prayer: they continued in prayer.

Most Christians are not patient. We demand immediate answers to our prayers, look for immediate results to our labors, expect immediate resolutions to our problems, and cry for immediate removal of our trials.

We can fall into the snare of thinking that our times should dictate God’s times, of thinking we know the best time. But God has a purpose for waiting and His time is always for the best for the church. The disciples must wait patiently until Pentecost because at that time the coming of the Holy Spirit would have its greatest effect on the world, when “there [would be] dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.” The Lord knows how and when to work to the greatest effect in our lives. Let us wait patiently and continue in prayer.