9 PRAY TO SHAKE THE PLACE.

And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

     —Acts 4:31

Prayer shakes the place where we assemble. We cannot expect to be the church as usual when we pray. We can expect change. Instead of praying, “God change others,” we must begin praying, “God change me.”

We are salt in the world. As we pray, God shakes the saltshaker and out we are thrust into the world for which we have prayed. Praying has no power without going. Going has no mission without praying.

Prayer shakes the person praying. The place of prayer is never a building; it’s always a person. We are the temples of the Holy Spirit. We are the dwelling place of the living God. God shakes everything through prayer so that what cannot be shaken will remain (Heb. 12:27–28).

Prayer shakes the world prayed for. When we pray, the world is turned upside down (Acts 17:6). Prayer that shakes us, sends us into a world that needs to hear a bold proclamation of the gospel.

Too often praying people are viewed as wimps instead of warriors. Too often praying people are hidden away in a back room instead of boldly declaring what God has said on the street corner.

Shaken people in prayer have nothing to fear, nothing to hide and nothing to lose in following Christ out of the closet and into the world. Having been shaken by God, warriors in prayer cannot be shaken by anything in the world.

Lord,

Shake me. Rattle me. Disturb me. Discomfort and disquiet me. Shake out of me anything that is not tied to You. Loosen from me anything that binds me up. Shake me free from all bondages so that I will boldly proclaim You to all who are lost. Amen.