When God Shakes a Church
We all know prayer matters. But if we’re honest, most of our prayers stay in one of two lanes:
Basecamp prayers – asking God to meet personal needs.
Worship prayers – asking to draw closer to His presence.
Both are essential. But in Acts 4, the early church prayed a third kind of prayer that we often overlook: frontline prayer. This is the prayer that shakes a church, and when God shakes a church, a church can shake the world.
Frontline prayer is different. It’s not asking for more comfort or even just for personal spiritual growth. It’s asking for boldness and opportunity to advance God’s kingdom. It’s aligning our hearts with His mission. It’s what Peter, John, and the early believers prayed when they faced threats and opposition after boldly proclaiming the Gospel.
Acts 4 tells the story. Peter and John heal a man in Jesus’ name, preach, and 5,000 believe. They’re arrested, threatened, and ordered to stop speaking about Jesus. Their response? “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” Then they gather with other believers and pray—not for safety, but for courage to keep going.
Their prayer has a pattern: worship God, remember His promises, and then ask for boldness. The majority of the prayer isn’t request—it’s worship and alignment with God’s plan.
When they finished praying, “the place where they were gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31). They were unshaken in their mission because God had shaken them awake.
So how do we pray like that? Acts 4 shows us four key elements:
Pray with expectation. Believe God will do what He says. Pray for boldness and expect Him to give it.
Pray with specifics. Ask for clear, kingdom-focused outcomes—boldness, open doors, changed lives.
Pray with consistency. Frontline prayer isn’t a one-time thing. It’s ongoing, like wave after wave in battle.
Pray the Bible. Let Scripture shape your prayers so they’re fresh, truthful, and aligned with God’s heart.
This kind of praying isn’t just for “spiritual elites.” It’s for all believers. It’s for us.
Imagine if we prayed like this together—consistently, expectantly, specifically, with the Word open in front of us. Imagine God shaking our church in such a way that we can’t help but speak of what we’ve seen and heard. That’s what we’re after.
Let’s not settle for talking about prayer. Let’s be a church that prays frontline prayers until God shakes us for His glory.