The Early Church: Lord, Fill Us with Your Spirit
Cultivate Prayer, Week 1
Introduction
On September 18, 2026, believers from across North America will gather for the National Prayer Summit to seek God together for spiritual renewal, disciple-making, and gospel saturation in our cities and nations.
As we prepare for that gathering, we are looking back at moments in church history when God used extraordinary prayer and ordinary people to spark movements of renewal. These stories remind us that God has continued to work through surrendered communities, persistent prayer, and faithful discipleship across generations.
We begin where every movement of God begins—with the birth of the Church.
After His resurrection, Jesus instructed His followers not to rush into the mission before them. Instead, He told them to wait. Though they had walked with Him for years and received His teaching, they were not yet ready to accomplish the work He was sending them to do. They needed the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.
So the disciples gathered in prayer.
For days, they waited together with expectancy, seeking God with one heart. Then, at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out. Fear gave way to courage. Ordinary followers became bold witnesses. The gospel spread rapidly through cities, households, and nations. As persecution scattered believers, the message of Jesus spread even farther. Throughout the book of Acts, moments of prayer consistently preceded moments of breakthrough, discernment, courage, healing, sending, and multiplication.
The story of the early Church reminds us that movements are not ultimately built through strategy, gifted leaders, or favorable circumstances. They are born through the work of the Holy Spirit among people who seek God together with humility and expectancy.
As we pray this week, we ask God to fill His Church once again with the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. We pray that our plans would never outpace our dependence on Him, and that He would prepare our hearts ahead of the National Prayer Summit to seek Him with fresh faith and expectancy.
Scripture Readings
Read all, or choose 2–3 passages before continuing.
Acts 1:4–14
Acts 2:1–21
Acts 4:23–31
Luke 24:44–49
Reflection
The first disciples had everything many of us long for. They had walked with Jesus. They had witnessed His miracles. They had heard His teaching firsthand. They had even seen the risen Christ.
Yet Jesus still instructed them to wait.
Before they preached, they prayed. Before they were sent, they surrendered themselves to God. Before the Church multiplied, the Holy Spirit empowered them.
The book of Acts repeatedly shows this pattern. Prayer was not an activity that supported the mission. It was the place where the Church received clarity, courage, wisdom, and power for the mission. When opposition arose, they prayed. When leaders were commissioned, they prayed. When difficult decisions needed to be made, they prayed. Their dependence upon God shaped everything that followed.
The same invitation remains before us today. We are not simply asking God to bless our efforts. We are asking Him to form us into a people whose confidence rests in His presence rather than our own abilities.
Consider
The early believers refused to move ahead without the Holy Spirit. They understood that the mission of God could never be accomplished through human strength alone.
As you prepare to pray this week, sit quietly before the Lord.
Where have you become more dependent on your own experience, gifting, or plans than on the Holy Spirit?
What would it look like to wait on God with greater patience and expectancy?
Where do you long to see the Holy Spirit bring courage, wisdom, or breakthrough in your own life?
How might God be inviting His Church to deepen its dependence on Him in this season?
As the National Prayer Summit approaches, what would it look like for us to gather with the same expectancy that marked the believers in the Upper Room?
Pray
Read through these prayer prompts slowly and prayerfully. Notice which ones the Holy Spirit seems to highlight for you this week. Spend extra time praying in those areas.
Thank God for sending the Holy Spirit to empower His Church for mission.
Ask the Holy Spirit to deepen our dependence on His presence rather than our own strength or strategies.
Pray for fresh courage to bear witness to Jesus wherever God has placed us.
Ask God to prepare hearts across North America with humility, unity, and expectancy ahead of the National Prayer Summit.
Pray that churches, ministries, and disciple-makers would be led by the Spirit in every decision and every step of obedience.
Ask God to use the National Prayer Summit as a gathering where people encounter His presence and are freshly commissioned for His mission.