about EP PRayer Nights
EP Prayer Nights stand for Earnestly Praying Nights. These occasions are where the Church gathers monthly for prayer, and we pray with earnest seeking the Lord. On these nights, we pray and worship together, we pray for each other and we pray earnestly for a breakthrough from the Lord. An EP Night is whatever the situation….BUT GOD….
The concept arises from the Church praying earnest for Peter in the Book of Acts. There are three James’ in the New Testament that are referenced as:
James, Brother of Jesus, (Mt13:55)
James, son of Alphaeus (Mt10:2–3)
James son of Zebedee, Johns brother (Mt10:2).
James, brother of Jesus is (Acts 12:17; 1 Cor 9:5) was not one of the Twelve Apostles, but was known as an apostle in the wider sense (Gal 1:18-19). James led the church at Jerusalem until his martyr in AD 62. 1 Cor 15:7 specifically names James as one to whom Jesus appeared after His Resurrection. Seeing Jesus, James believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. This James, brother of Jesus, later writes the Epistle of James introducing himself simply, “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (James 1:1). This is the same James of Acts 15:13-21 who endorses Peter’s testimony that God is also redeeming Gentiles.
Some argue that James the brother of Jesus and Jesus’ disciple James, son of Alpheus might be the same person. While possible, it seems unlikely, as Jesus’ brothers did not believe He was the Messiah based on their mockery in John 7:1-4, which occurred after many events in which the 12 disciples took part. Therefore James, son of Alpheus was mostly likely his own person, and disciple of Jesus.
And that leaves James son of Zebedee and brother of John, who was put to death by the sword in Acts 12:1-2, the first of the disciples martyred.
It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.
Can you imagine – the grief – one of the disciples of Jesus now killed for political gain. The Church was grieving for James, while they now considered the same would happen to Peter was also taken in Acts 12:3-5.
3When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.
How did the Church respond? Earnest Prayer!
So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
What does earnest infer? We can learn something firstly from the only other place in the New Testament where this word is used, found in 1 Peter 1:22 saying:
‘Now that by your obedience to the truth you have purified yourselves and have come to have a sincere love for other believers, love one another earnestly with all your heart.’
1 / Earnestly praying is praying out of a deep sincere heart of love for one another
It is the command to truly love one another that a deep overwhelming fervency naturally occurs for the sake of the other…a deep and intentional desire for some sort of divine intervention is a way we might translate and describe the word earnestly we find in Acts 12:5.
Other ways this word is used includes does ‘to stretch’ or ‘reach’ or ‘be in tension’. And those latter three are instructive for fervently, deeply and intentionally.
EP Nights are about ‘not relaxing’! EP Nights are about praying with intentional desperate confidence, praying without ceasing to the Lord to move, transform, open up and save. EP Nights are the conviction of Jesus proclaiming about himself that that He was the person of Isaiah 61 freedom and release…
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.
2 / Earnestly praying is about a type of grieving that something is not right: “Lord – intervene”
The Bible calls us to pray for and intercede for our family. From our love for another, we cry out seeking intervention, seeking restoration, seeking breakthrough, seeking freedom, seeking release.
The heart of a grieving prayer is that we are so moved, that from a place of seeming helplessness and weakness, our grieving turns us to someone who is stronger, bigger, greater, and able. Our grieving about a situation, our disgust about being unable to do anything, results in a fervent and earnest call to the Lord to intervene. A joining of the groaning takes place as illustrated in Romans 8:26
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
This prayer is not a grieving response from fear, but a 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 response:
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
3 / God is moved by Earnest prayer, even when we begin to lose hope or envisage a good result”
It seems that while the Church was Earnestly Praying, they did not except the release of Peter (v13-16), and either did Peter (v9-12)!!!!!
13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14 When she recognised Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”15 “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.
Clearly they had determined Peter was dead, rather than expecting a miracle. And notice Peter himself…
9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. 11 Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.” 12 When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying.
Peter himself was quite unsure of the rescue was a real rescue…untiled it dawned on Him! What does all this mean?
4 / Even if you feel you have lost hope, what is grieving you about a situation in your life, your family, your friends and community, your church?
And how we can take this to the Lord together in prayer, in community? The space after the ‘so’ below is where each one of us places a name, a situation, a place, an attitude, a problem, a fear…
So __________________________________ was kept in a type of hopeless prison, BUT the church was earnestly praying to God.
So __________________________________ situation seemed hopeless and impossible, BUT the church was earnestly praying to God.