In Acts 6, we see the first crisis erupt in the fledgling Church. As the Church increased in number so did the welfare concerns of members. Of particular importance were the complaints of the Greek-speaking believers against the Hebrew-speaking believers, who felt their widows were being discriminated against in the distribution of food. The twelve apostles thought out a solution as these verses of scriptures indicate: “So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”” Acts 6:2-4, NLT.

In our previous meditation, we noted that the word of God is a means by which grace flows into our lives. Another thing that connects us to grace is prayer. The apostles detected the plan of the devil who was trying to swerve them from the main to the mundane. If you take away the word and prayer from a minister of the gospel or any believer, you see them running on empty or at best running in the flesh. The apostles refused to abandon the word and prayer, the means of grace without which they would have been sterile in the ministry. If we neglect the means of grace, we become unfruitful in the Christian life. This is why the writer of Hebrews admonished us to come to the throne for grace and mercy. It is about time we embraced the throne through intercession.