Being assembled together with them, He charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father.
—Acts 1:4
The second mark of the church is found in the disciples whom the Lord had prepared to receive His Spirit and to be His witnesses. If we want to understand fully the outpouring of the Spirit in answer to the prayer of the disciples, we must above all ask, “What was in these men that enabled them to speak forth such powerful, effective prayer, and to receive the wonderful fulfillment of the promise that came to them?” They were simple, uneducated men with many faults whom the Lord had called to forsake all and follow Him. They had done this as far as they could; they followed Him in the life He led and the work He did. Though there was much sin in them and they had as yet no power to deny themselves fully, their hearts clung to Him in deep sincerity. In the midst of much stumbling, they followed Him to the cross. They shared with Him His death; unconsciously, but in truth, they died with Him to sin and were raised with Him in the power of a new life. It was this that prepared them for power in prayer and for being clothed with the “power from on high” (Luke 24:49).
Let this be the test by which we examine ourselves: have we indeed surrendered to the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings and death? Have we hated our own lives and crucified them? And have we received the power of Christ’s life in us? It is this that will give us liberty to believe that God will hear our prayers. It is this that will assure us that God will give us His Holy Spirit to work in us what we and He desire. Let us indeed with one accord take up the disciples’ prayer and share in the answer. We must, like them, be willing learners in the school of Jesus, and we must seek, above everything, the intimate fellowship with Him that will prepare us for praying the prayer of Pentecost and receiving its answer.