Acts of Prayer: A Martyr’s Prayer

D. Scott Meadows

And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit . . . (Acts 7:54-60).

From a congregation of thousands, Stephen was the first man chosen of seven excellent men needed to assist the apostles and elders in administering the distribution of food to needy widows within the congregation (Acts 6.5). Qualifications included having a good reputation and being full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom and, by inference, having administrative abilities (6.3). Christ’s church must only consecrate to the offices of elders and deacons the best of men, men with spiritual gifts and Christian graces and who are sterling examples to the flock (1 Pet 5.3). Stephen was exemplary even among the seven chosen. His name is not only mentioned first in the list, but it evoked the immediate commendation, before the others, that he was “a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6.5).

From Acts 7, it is evident that Stephen, though not an elder, alongside them was “gifted and fitted by the Holy Spirit for” preaching the Word, and presumably, “approved and called by the church” to do what he did (cf. 2LCF 26.11). His sermon as recorded here is by far the longest in the book of Acts, even longer than Peter’s extremely important sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2.14-36). Stephen’s sermon is outstanding for many reasons. It was a faithful rehearsal of Israel’s long history as recorded in the Old Testament with a view toward spiritual application to the unconverted souls of his Jewish hearers. Stephen was also a fearless man (Jer 1.8; Gal 1.10), fearing God only. Among many other virtues, this fearlessness is what it means to be “full of faith and the Holy Spirit.” Stephen surely knew that to convict these sinners so forcefully would provoke a hostile reaction, except the grace of God melted them instantly into contrite, repenting people. But Stephen preached boldly anyway. His courage was an answer to earlier prayers of this very church. “Grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word” (Acts 4.29).

Providence ordained that Stephen would pay with his life for this heroic testimony to Jesus. No small part of Stephen’s legacy was his dying prayer while being murdered by the rabble who heard him. In some respects it was absolutely unique, but in others, we may and should imitate Stephen. I would make some observations about how our prayers should be like his.

1. We Should Pray in the Holy Spirit

Luke’s account stresses Stephen’s true spirituality. His religion was no dead, man-made thing, like his fellow Jews not yet born again nor believing in Jesus. Stephen’s religious conviction and confession was the product of the vitality of the Holy Spirit of God working upon and in Stephen the man. Stephen’s prayer was formed and offered in dependence upon the Holy Spirit (Rom 8.26). The Holy Spirit does not Himself pray, for prayer is what humans do, but He works in us so that we pray with His promptings and enablement. This truly spiritual praying, as opposed to merely “saying prayers” which unbelievers often do, is not restricted to biblical times. It is a blessed privilege and responsibility of believers praying until Christ returns (cf. Rom 15.30; Eph 6.18; Jude 20). We “pray in the Holy Spirit” when we pray with a trustful dependence upon Him to help us pray, instead of ignoring Him, imagining that we can pray just fine without Him.

2. We Should Pray Consciously in the Sight of the Risen Christ

Stephen’s experience in prayer was extraordinary while being killed for his Lord’s sake. In those fleeting moments before breathing his last, Stephen received a supernatural vision of Christ, not seated upon His throne, but standing as if to honor Stephen’s sacrifice for the gospel cause. It must have strengthened Stephen’s resolve to continue faithful through the horrible abuse he had to suffer just before joining Christ in heaven.

But even without such a vision, we all pray consciously in the sight of Christ, for He sees and knows all. It would be good if we always kept this in mind. Every word we utter in prayer, we speak in the spiritual presence of our living Savior. He truly hears and regards us in real time. This should warm our hearts on account of His love for us and induce a gripping reverence and awe on account of His majesty. Like Stephen, we will be delivered from praying to be heard and accepted by others and helped to pray so that we might please Christ above all.

3. We Should Pray to God Alone

Nowhere in the Scriptures of the Old or New Testaments will you find God’s people addressing prayer to any but God alone. They understood that prayer is an act of worship, and worship must be directed to God alone. The custom of some professing Christians to pray to the Virgin Mary and other saints is fundamentally sacrilegious and idolatrous.

This makes Stephen’s prayer a striking proof of the full deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Luke reports that Stephen was “calling upon God” in prayer, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Stephen recognized Jesus as God. So did other disciples of Jesus (e.g., John 20.28). Early Christians were known generally as those who “in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Cor 1.2). Christians worship Jesus Christ as “the true God,” and keep ourselves from idols (1 John 5.20, 21).

4. We Should Pray While Trusting in Christ

Among the last words Stephen spoke in this life were these: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” This is a manner of speaking which reveals that Stephen realized he was about to die. Scripture characterizes physical death as the spirit or soul leaving the physical body, and, for Christians, “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor 5.8). To die is “to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better” (Phil 1.23). May it be that you and I can die while consciously exercising faith in Christ like Stephen did.

But Stephen had been trusting in Christ for some time before this, and his prayers were always offered as a sincere Christian. Leaning our souls upon Christ is not only what we do in our conversion or on our deathbeds; it is an everyday experience in all we do as Christians. Prayer in particular is a special opportunity to exercise faith in Christ, and so we should trust Him as we pray.

5. We Should Pray with Love Toward Our Enemies

The very last words from Stephen’s lips in this life were, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” In these words, Stephen is acknowledging the wickedness of their murderous act. Their crime was especially aggravated as a malicious response to his worthy sermon preached for their spiritual benefit. Obviously none of us have ever suffered like this. “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” (Heb 12.4). Of all the outrageous, hideous abuses that depraved people inflict upon one another, killing Christians for our testimony to Jesus is among the very worst.

This is why Stephen’s prayer is so moving. He prayed that the Lord would not “lay this sin to their charge,” which is to say, not hold them guilty and punish them for what they had done. It is a prayer that God would forgive them their sins, even this one. Without question, the Lord Jesus Himself was working in Stephen’s soul to make him think and feel this way. While Jesus was being crucified, He prayed for His murderers, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23.34).

Brethren, we must always pray with genuine love to all people, including those who have wronged us. A spirit of bitterness and resentment is not from the Lord Jesus, but very sinful, and it makes us unfit to pray in the will of God. “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11.25). The same Lord that enabled Stephen to have a disposition of love even toward those in the very act of killing him enables us to pray with kindness in our hearts towards those that have troubled us with lesser wrongs. May He grant us all the grace we need to pray as we should, following Stephen’s worthy example. Ω