Acts 6:4 “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
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Elizabeth Elliott allegedly once said once said, “Prayer lays hold of God's plan and becomes the link between his will and its accomplishment on earth.”
The early church were not sure what God’s plan was to be. They were Jews who knew the obligations that went with their faith, but now under the new covenant initiated by Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, they understood that things were changing. In Acts 6, the Greek-speaking Jews had issues with their Hebrew Christian brothers over how widows were being treated.
This might not seem so serious to us, but it represented a larger problem for the twelve apostles. They knew that mercy ministries were important, but they also knew how critical it was to preach the gospel. They were the ones who had been an eye-witness to Jesus’ ministry, and thus, they were uniquely the ones to teach the truth of the new faith.
They initiated the office of deacon made up of “seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom” (6:3) to conduct the mercy ministry toward the widows which would enable them to “devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
Notice that prayer was highlighted first. The word “devote” in our translation is a little weak compared to Greek word that is used here. Proskarteréō means "to continue to do something with intense effort, with the possible implication of despite difficulty – 'to devote oneself to, to keep on, to persist in.’ (1) They knew that all ministry had to be bathed in intense, persistent, ’devoted’ prayer.
PRAYER STARTER…
Dear Heavenly Father, forgive us for doing our work for you without drawing on your strength, your leading, your comfort, your direction. May we be ever mindful that apart from you we can do nothing, and especially those things that are for your purposes and for your glory.
(Continue this prayer as the Holy Spirit directs you personally.)
1. “Strong’s Greek: 4342. Προσκαρτερέω (Proskartereó) -- to Attend Constantly,” accessed November 29, 2023, https://biblehub.com/greek/4342.htm.