Acts 1:14 tells us that the early believers in Jerusalem were devoting themselves to prayer together after Jesus had ascended. The verse names who was in that group: the eleven apostles, several women, Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. Luke, the author of Acts, writes this as part of his account of the church’s beginnings.
All these with one accord continued steadfastly in prayer and supplication, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
Acts 1:14 (WEB)
What Acts 1:14 Means
The phrase “all these with one accord” describes a group that was unified in purpose and mind. The word translated “steadfastly” carries the sense of persistence, of continuing in something day after day rather than dropping it when it gets hard. These people did not pray once and move on. They stayed at it.
The prayer described here is both “prayer” and “supplication,” which together suggest general devotion to God along with specific requests. The verse does not promise that every request would be granted in a particular way or on a particular timeline. What it does show is a community that gathered around the promise Jesus had given them and asked God to act on it.
The Context of Acts 1:14
Acts was written by Luke, traditionally identified as the companion of Paul and the author of the Gospel that bears his name. He wrote to continue the story of what happened after Jesus left the earth, showing how the message spread from Jerusalem outward. Verse 14 sits in the transition between Jesus’s ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, a gap of about ten days when the disciples were waiting.
Just before this verse, Jesus’s followers are told by two men in white that he will return in the same way they saw him leave. Just after it, Peter stands up to address the group about replacing Judas. Read in that setting, the prayer of verse 14 looks like the church’s first act of obedience while it waited for what Jesus had promised, rather than a quiet side note.
Key Phrases in Acts 1:14
Acts 2:1
Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one accord in one place.
(WEB)
This verse picks up the story immediately after the prayer in verse 14, describing the day of Pentecost when the group was together in one place. It shows what happened to the praying community when the promised Spirit arrived.
Romans 12:12
Rejoicing in hope; enduring in troubles; continuing steadfastly in prayer…
(WEB)
Paul’s exhortation to be constant in prayer echoes the steadfastness Luke describes in Acts 1:14. Both passages present prayer as an ongoing discipline that sustains believers through hope and trouble alike.
A Short Prayer From Acts 1:14
Lord, you gather people together and give them a reason to keep coming back to you in prayer. When my own hope feels thin and the answer I want has not yet arrived, help me to keep asking steadily, as the first believers did in that upper room. Bind my heart to others who love you, so that our prayers may be shaped by one purpose rather than by our separate worries. Teach me to wait with patience and trust, knowing that you are faithful to what you have promised. Amen.
