Author and evangelist R. A. Torrey once said, "Pray for great things, expect great things, work for great things, but above all, pray." That's what the apostles and the early church did in the face of opposition from religious authorities: "Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus" (Acts 4:29-30).

And here's the result: "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" (v. 31).

Now, I want to look deeper at their prayer. First of all, their prayer had backing. They were appealing to God. They weren't just spouting out words or talking into the air. They raised their voices and said, "Lord, You are God" (v. 24). The word Lord is the Greek word Despota, meaning the autocrat of the universe, the ruler of everything. It reminds me of Jeremiah's prayer: "Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You" (Jeremiah 32:17).

When you pray, the first thing you must do is recognize to whom you're speaking. You're not speaking to somebody who is weak or somebody with mere earthly authority. We're talking to the sovereign God, for whom nothing is too hard.

When you elevate your prayer by recognizing to whom you're praying, it inspires faith. If you say, "God, I don't know if You're up there," you're not praying with faith. But when you say, "Lord, You made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them," then you put it in the framework of faith and you see God with the right perspective.

It's important to do that, because too often, we put our limitations onto God. What is hard and impossible for us is so easy for God. We have faith for healing when we pray about a cold. Our faith diminishes when we're praying about something more serious. "Oh Lord, this person has inoperable cancer!" God might say, "So? I can fix a cold or cancer. I created the human body. I made everything on the earth."

Next, the early church's prayer had a basis in Scripture. In verses 25-26, they quoted Psalm 2:1-2, where David said, "Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed." The word Anointed is the Hebrew word for Messiah, which is Christos in the Greek and Christ in English. So it's all the same.

In their prayer, the early church quoted the first psalm that is considered messianic. They were praying, realizing that God is the autocrat of the universe—that He controls everything, made everything—and that what was happening in Jerusalem that day was predicted in the Scriptures.

So their prayer was elevated. They came to Almighty God with a request. But before they got there, they realized to whom they were talking. Their prayer had backing. And they quoted Scripture, so there was a basis for what they were asking.

What an example to follow—just like the example Jesus gave us when He said, "In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Your name" (Matthew 6:9).

Let's elevate our prayers, believing that God is the sovereign autocratic ruler of the universe who can do anything.