Acts 1:12-14

12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. 13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

It is amazing what God can accomplish through us when we are obedient to His word. The disciples were told that they would receive power from the Holy Spirit. They know that the Holy Spirit was going to come to them, they just had to be patient and listen to the Father. Jesus had just ascended to heaven. I am sure the disciples were pretty distraught. I mean think about it. They have spent three years preaching the gospel with Jesus and then they have to watch his die on a cross. That had to be pretty traumatic. Three days later, Jesus is risen from the dead and the disciples were probably extremely relieved and happy to have their Savior back. Jesus is only with them for a short time though and then he leaves once again. We have never experienced actually seeing Jesus face to face, let alone actually ministering throughout the lands with Jesus at the helm. We have always had the Holy Spirit. It is all we have ever known. But think about the situation the disciples are in. They are in a transition time. Jesus has just left them, and the Holy Spirit has not yet arrived. So they leave the Mount of Olives where Jesus has just departed and walk back to the place they are staying. When it says a Sabbath day's journey, this does not mean that it takes the whole day to get back. This means that they walked about the maximum distance that is allowed on the Sabbath day. Back in this time, nothing could really be done on the Sabbath, so they could only walk a certain distance on this day. I love the disciples devotion. Jesus leaves and they feel left alone so what do they do? They do the only thing that they can do, they begin to pray. All the disciples are gathered with all of the women who probably ministered to Jesus' disciples, Mary, and all of Jesus' brothers. Jesus told them to wait on the Holy Spirit. Instead of simply waiting around not doing anything, the disciples begin to pray and complete devote themselves to the task at hand. They were all completely unified and of one mind. This beginning of the disciple's ministry without Jesus is a great example of how we should model our churches. They were confused and were not really sure where to go so they pray. Our churches need that same devotion. There are so many times when churches are lost and confused and don't know where to go. A lot of churches look to worldly things when this occurs. We do have the Holy Spirit, but we still have to pray to receive knowledge from the Holy Spirit. Churches need to pay more attention to the disciples and learn patience and learn the power of prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit.