“When we returned to the ship at the end of the week, the entire congregation, including women and children, left the city and came down to the shore with us. There we knelt, prayed, and said our farewells. Then we went aboard, and they returned home.”
Acts 21:5-6 (NLT)
Paul had been warned again that trouble was waiting for him in Jerusalem. But the warning did not make him run away or sit still. It became another opportunity for the believers around him to strengthen and encourage him. After a week with the disciples in Tyre, Paul and his missionary team returned to the ship, and the whole congregation came with them to the shore.
That picture moves me. Not just leaders. Not just a few faithful people. Wives, children, mothers, fathers, grandparents, brothers, and sisters were all kneeling together with Paul on the beach. Before they said goodbye, they got low before God and prayed. Encouragement from people matters, but the strength Paul needed most could only come from the God they were praying to on bended knees.
At the end of Acts 20, Paul knelt and prayed with the elders from Ephesus. Here in Acts 21, he is kneeling with the whole church in Tyre. It reminds me of Peter getting on his knees in Acts 9 and praying for Tabitha, then God raising her back to life. If there is that kind of power when one believer kneels and prays, I wonder what God releases when a whole community humbles themselves together in unity and prays.
There are many things in this world we bow to and surrender to together. But what would happen if we started bowing together before Jesus? Maybe it begins with us individually. Then our families. Then our extended family of believers. A surrendered church, kneeling in unity and praying to God, will be changed by His power. And through surrendered believers, God can change our homes, our communities, and the world.