Homothymadon—with One Accord

One of the gifts God has given us as Christians is one accord prayer.

One accord prayer is praying as a body as opposed to individuals in the same room. Since the latter is what many experience in churches and other groups, one accord prayer is something that often believers need to be taught.

Perhaps that is why when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray that He used the pronouns "our," we," and "us." We are meant to reflect the same oneness He has with His Father and with the Holy Spirit. One accord prayer teaches us to pray with oneness.

I learned one accord prayer as a member of Moms in Prayer International. During our prayer hour, we pray subject by subject conversationally covering in one accord each subject as led by the Spirit until that subject has been fully bathed in prayer.

Our intercession step of prayer begins by joining our voices together in one accord prayer to bathe each child one by one in the Word of God. This is so cool because as we do this we moms gain the added benefit of our minds of also being washed in the Word.

One accord prayer reveals the love we have for one another. It means others are listening to our hearts when they agree with us in prayer, waiting till our request has been fully covered before jumping in with theirs. What a blessing it is to hear the passionate prayers of others echoing our own and to know they care that much.

If you still wonder about one accord prayer, you might find this helpful—

"One accord" is a synonym for unity, according to the Online Thesaurus. As per Strong’s, the phrase “one accord” appears in the KJV 13 times: Acts 1:14; 2:1; 2:46: 4:24; 5:12; 7:57; 8:6; 12:20; 15:25; 18:12; 19:29; and Philippians 2:2.

All of the Acts passages use the Greek word homothymadon, which means with one mind, with one accord, with one passion. This Greek word is unique, a compound word meaning to “rush along” and “in unison” with almost a musical image—like a symphony. Picture God as the Conductor and we are the instrument players or chorus—together we accomplish the symphony with such beauty the Conductor smiles!

Philippians 2:2 uses the word sympsychos (its only occurrence), which means of one mind, of one accord. Syn[m] = together with; psychos = soul, self, inner life, or the seat of the feelings, desires, affections. The word refers to being united in spirit or harmonious—one in Christ in all desires!

Oneness is what Jesus prayed we would experience. (John 17:11, 21, 22, 23) And that oneness turns out to be all about the glory of God seen in us so that the world looking on will choose to believe. One accord prayer helps us grow in oneness. And that means it helps us glorify the Lord our God.

 

All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer,

together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

Acts 1:14 (ESV)