Apostolic Prayers Acts 5-6

Gathered together, whereby nothing would be impossible! Shadows, Prison doors, angelic ministration! Where their freedom was in service, was unto God! The heights of liberty and riches immeasurable came as they entered deeper into commune with the Lord by the Word and prayer. How dearly we need the commission and mission clarified. The core work is as they laid it out and the Lord did before them,

4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
Acts 6:4

Where devote is taken from earnest pursuit, to persevere, be constantly diligent, or (in a place viz. the secret place) to attend assiduously all the exercises, or (to a person) to adhere closely to (as a servitor). They would give themselves continually, waiting on God through the Scriptures and Prayer. Where we can see the fruit…

‘We must obey God rather than men!’ Their duty to remain faithful to the Messiah and HIs charge was renewed in them at a time they could easily have fallen apart or away. Yet they found as we may, that the inner life has glorious outpourings wherever we yield to the Spirit and the Word. Whereby we are gathered together with the entire host of heaven to see impossible is nothing! They did not slack on the duty required of the Church either but also committed prayerfully the right men to continue to serve.

5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.
6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
Acts 6:5-6

The primacy here is not so much the laying on of hands, but that we all are members of His Body. With the present Lord, whose presence is the treasure we share with a world in desperate need of a touch of heaven. Here is a quote from one such hand which brought dignity to the least, last and lost. Can you guess whose it was?

“Sometime ago a man to our house and he said, ‘Mother, there is a family, a Hindu family, that has eight children.  They have not eaten for a long time.  Do something for them.’ So I took some rice and I went.  When I arrived at their house I could see the hunger in the children’s eyes.  Their eyes were shining with hunger.  I gave the rice to the mother, and she took the rice.  She divided it into two, and then she went out.  When she came back, I asked her, ‘Where did you go?’ She said, ‘They are hungry also.’  Next door neighbor, they were also hungry.  What struck me most, not that she gave the rice but she knew they were hungry.  And because she knew, she shared.  And this is what we have to come to know….  Love, to be true, has to hurt and this woman who was hungry – she knew that her neighbor was also hungry, and that family happened to be a Muslim family.  So it was touching, so real.”