Monday, May 18, 2026 | Not So Ordinary, Week 3

Devotional Thought

“They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.”

Acts 1:14, NLT

Jesus has just told them it isn’t theirs to know the times and dates. Then he’s gone — taken up, a cloud, and two men in white asking why they’re still standing there staring at the sky. So they walk back to Jerusalem. And here’s what they do with what comes next: they don’t strategize. They go upstairs and pray.

Look at who’s in that room. The eleven. Mary. Several women. Jesus’ own brothers, who hadn’t believed him during his ministry and are there now. None of them qualified, by any normal measure. None of them with a plan. Pentecost hasn’t happened. They have no power yet. What they have is each other and a promise.

And they pray. Constantly, Luke says. United.

We tend to treat waiting as wasted time, the dead space before the real thing starts. The disciples treated it as the assignment. The waiting was the work. Before God moved, before any power showed up, there was a room full of ordinary people on their knees together.

If you’re in a stretch of waiting right now — for an answer, for things to turn, for the next thing to become clear — this is what to do with it. Not pace. Not white-knuckle it alone. Pray, and don’t do it by yourself.

Going Deeper

Scripture Reading

Acts 1:6–14 (NLT) — 6 So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?” 7 He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. 10 As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!” 12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a distance of half a mile. 13 When they arrived, they went to the upstairs room of the house where they were staying. Here are the names of those who were present: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (the zealot), and Judas (son of James). 14 They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.

Historical Context

Acts is Luke’s second volume, written to a man named Theophilus as a continuation of his gospel. This scene sits in Jerusalem in the short window between Jesus’ ascension and Pentecost — roughly ten days. The “upper room” may be the same room as the Last Supper. The list of names is the eleven remaining disciples; Judas is gone. Notably, the room also holds women, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Jesus’ brothers — family members who, according to John 7:5, had not believed in him during his public ministry.

Literary Context

This is the opening of Acts, the hinge between the gospel and the story of the early church. Acts 1:8 — “you will be my witnesses” in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth — is the thesis statement for the entire book. But before the narrative moves outward, it stops in a room. Luke slows the story down on purpose to show prayer coming before mission.

Theological Context

This passage sets the relationship between prayer and the Spirit’s power. The disciples were told to wait (1:4), and the waiting is not passive — it’s prayer, and it’s community. Pentecost is God’s initiative, not something the disciples achieve, but they aren’t sitting idle until it lands. The church is born in a prayer meeting, not a strategy session.

Key Insights

1. They prayed before the power came, not after. The waiting was the assignment.
2. “Constantly united” — nobody was doing this alone. The room was full.
3. The people in that room weren’t qualified. Eleven shaken men, women, a mother, brothers who used to doubt him. Ordinary.
4. Acts 1:8 sends them to the ends of the earth. But the mission starts on the floor of an upper room.

Looking In the Mirror

1. When you’re in a hard stretch, what’s your honest first move — strategize, or pray? Which one do you actually reach for?
2. The disciples waited together. Who’s in the room with you? Or have you been doing the waiting alone?
3. Is there something you’re calling “waiting” that’s really just stalling? What would it look like to wait the way they waited — actively, in prayer, with people?

Guided Prayer

God, I’m not good at waiting. When something’s hard I want to fix it, manage it, get out in front of it. The disciples didn’t have a plan. They had a room, each other, and a promise from you, and they prayed. Teach me to wait like that — not stalling, not pacing, but praying. And put people in the room with me. I’ve been trying to carry the hard part alone, and you never asked me to. Amen.