Praying
Together
When we pray together, our prayers become infused with the
power of the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, many Christians don't take advantage
of this. Praying together is biblical. Several times in the New Testament,
Christians are instructed to pray together. This instruction isn't limited to
just the family. The first person to give this mandate was Jesus, the second
was Paul. The instruction is generally to pray together with others.
Matthew 18:19-20, "Again, I say to you
that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask it will be
done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered
together in my name, I am there in the midst of them." These are the
words that Jesus spoke to his disciples. He didn't just suggest that spend time
together in prayer, but he instructed us to do so. He didn't limit who we
should pray with either; he just said to do it.
The Apostle Paul also gave instruction in Hebrews, that we
should "motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us
not neglect our meeting together.." (See Hebrews 10:24-25 NLT).
Meeting together does not just mean church. In Romans 15:30, Paul urges us "to
join in my struggle by praying to God for me." This is not a
suggestion but an instruction.
Praying together unleashes power greater than one person alone can achieve. Simply put, there is strength in numbers. What kind of power does praying together have?
James 5:14-16,"Is anyone among you sick? Let him
call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him
with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick,
and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be
forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another,
that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails
much."
James is speaking of every type of healing. Physical and
mental healing occurs because we pray together for each other. Spiritual and
emotional healing occurs because we confess our sins to each other and pray
together. Clearly, if Christians will pray together, we will experience the
power of the Lord.
We read in Matthew 18:19 how the Father will do anything we
ask when only two come together in agreement. "Anything" is a really
broad term that includes all things. This is literally the power to move heaven
and earth. When we pray together, we have this power. Prayer is like a
partnership. As a result of prayer, there is a bonding between believers. You can
do the best work for God and for others through prayer.
If praying together is so powerful, why don't Christians
like doing it? Perhaps we are driven by a fear factor. We're afraid of making a
mistake or being rejected by those we pray with. We may pray some outrageous
prayer, and if God doesn't answer immediately, we may feel like failures. This
fear is not from God. It is from the enemy, playing on our insecurity.John
10:10 confirms it. "The thief does not come except to
steal, to kill, and to destroy."
When Christians are fearful because we might be rejected,
mess up, or somehow fail, we fall right into the enemy's fear trap. He uses
this weapon to effectively steal our courage to pray with others. Jesus told
us, "And I say to you, my friends do not be afraid of
those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I
will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has the
power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!"(Luke 12:4-5).
Paul states to Timothy, "For God has not given us a
spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2
Timothy 1:7).
We
need to pray boldly
Bold prayers honor God and God honors bold prayers. God
loves keeping his promises, performing miracles and fulfilling dreams. That is
who he is and that is what he does. God won't do anything unless we pray for
it. The greatest tragedy is prayers that go unanswered because they are not
asked.
A man had a dream one night. He was in a store room in
heaven, filled with endless rows of shelves, filled with beautifully wrapped
presents. "What is this?" he asked an angel showing him around.
"These are the answers to prayer God wanted to give his people, but no one
ever asked for them!"
Delayed
answers
People stop praying because of delays in getting answers to
prayer. Without doubt, delays can bring frustration, doubt and disappointment.
But know that God delays answers for our good. The heavenly Father knows what
we need even before we ask. But when we ask, he delays to make sure that our
motives in asking are right. We need to learn to trust his wisdom, which cannot
go wrong. At the right time and moment, his answer will come. So, call to God,
anywhere, anytime. Whatever the prayer request, silly or important, he loves to
hear from you.
What
is the right posture for prayer?
Jim Elliot, a missionary to the Auca Indians in South America, eventually
murdered by the people he tried to reach, used to say, "The saint that
advances on his knees never retreats."
When I was a child, all the prayer meetings, whether in
church or at home, always included us kneeling. It seems that this new
generation has forgotten that posture. Paul mentions kneeling in Eph 3:14,
"For this reason I kneel before the Father."
Posture is important, but which one is correct?There is no
certain posture for prayer. In the Bible people prayed on their knees (1 Kings 8:54),
bowing (Exodus 4:31),
on their faces before God (2 Chronicles
20:18, Matthew 26:39),
and standing (1 Kings 8:22).
You may pray with your eyes open or closed, quietly or out loud-what you are
most comfortable with and least distracted by.You may hold your hands folded or
lifted up. We often teach our children to put their hands together in
prayer. That habit is not really mentioned in Scripture, but at least we will
know where their hands are when we close our eyes!
The internal posture is more important than the external
one. Do you remember the prodigal son? He prayed the worst prayer in the best
place. At home, he told his father, "Give me!" Later in life, when he
had squandered all his wealth and he was feeding the pigs as a slave, he prayed
the best prayer in the worst place, "Make me a servant."
When do I
pray?
The Scripture tells us to pray without stopping. That does
not mean that we sit in a small room, alone, and pray 24/7. But we can pray all
the time as we go about our daily tasks. It is good to pray silently when you
are with other people, but we also have to have times when we are alone. The
patriarch Abraham went into a field to pray. His grandson Jacob went out in the
night to wrestle with God. The deliverer Moses went alone to the Tent, later
called the Tabernacle, and he also went up the mountain to be alone with God.
Jesus often went into the mountains to pray.
I have found that one of the best places to pray is while I
am driving alone. No human hears me, so I can whisper or sometimes shout. At
the traffic lights, especially in rush hour when we often get annoyed with
other drivers, we can pray for them instead. It helps your own sanity! Take
every opportunity!
How long
do I pray?
Do we have to pray for an hour for God to talk to us? Or is ten minutes enough?
I don't believe Jesus measures our prayers with a stop watch. However, I love
the description about the baptism of Jesus in Luke 3:21, "When all the
people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying,
heaven was opened." Sometimes when we pray, it feels as if the ceiling
was an inch above our heads. We are not getting through. The solution is to
pray until heaven opens!
What
should I pray for?
In Ephesians 3 Paul describes four specific prayer requests.
They are so different than our normal ones. He did not pray for material help,
more food, a better home or a new car. Nor did he pray for healing for this and
that sickness, although he could have. Instead he prayed for something much
more profound.
Spiritual
strength in your inner being
"I
pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through
his Spirit in your inner being" (verse 16). What good is a healthy body if the spirit
is bad?
The great Chicago evangelist in the 19th
century, Dwight L. Moody, used to say, when people asked him about the greatest
hindrance for his work "I have most trouble with DL Moody." True
renewal starts within us. As the old saying goes,"Don't pray for
circumstances equal to our power, but power equal to your circumstances."
Spiritual
depth
"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in
love"(verse
17). In Mark 4, Jesus told the parable about the sower, sowing his seed. Some
of the seed fell on the path and the birds ate it up. Some fell on rocky places
where there is not much soil. After it had shot up it died, because they had no
root. Others fell among the thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Only
25% fell in the good ground, developed solid roots and bore some fruit.
No
one can see the root system. It is like the foundation for a skyscraper; if
they
don't
build deep foundations, they cannot add many floors. Someone has said that we
are what we eat. Some of us are more than what we eat. God told us to view our
bodies as his temple, but some of us built cathedrals! Anyway, we need to focus
on spiritual depth in our lives, with deep roots. When the storms of life come,
we can hold firm even if the wind blows us about.
Spiritual
perception
"... may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to
grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ" (verse 18).
As we grow older, we tend to be narrower in our thinking and
our understanding. We become defensive and we feel threatened. Sometimes our
view of God becomes too small. We limit him in what he does and what he can do.
Perhaps our prayer should be focused on receiving a special perception, so we
can grasp all that God is and how enormous his love for us is.
Spiritual
fullness
"...and
to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the
measure of all the fullness of God" (verse19).
Fullness usually means control. When we are filled with
anger - we are controlled by anger. When we are filled with bitterness, we are
controlled by bitterness. When we become filled with God's spirit, we are
controlled by his spirit. And when we are filled with prayer for one another,
we are controlled by him who prays for us.
An
easy way to pray every day
A.C.T.S.
is an acronym that helps us stay focused in prayer. At times we really don't
know how to pray. The ACTS model for prayer makes it easier to pray, even if
you have never prayed before. It makes praying personal, effective, and
powerful.
A-
Adoration
The first part of this prayer is adoration. Everyone likes
to be complimented and praised! God is no different. He deserves our praise. Be
specific. "You're so wonderful" is a nice thing to say, but it
doesn't tell him why we think he is wonderful. Try something like, "God
your mercy and love toward me is wonderful." That lets God know exactly
what we're feeling.
C
-Confession
Someone has said, "Confession is good for the
soul." Our sins separate us from God. Confessing our sins in prayer before
God clears the way for a deeper relationship with him. He already knows our
sins, but our confession demonstrates our own self-awareness and our desire to
remove any barriers to our relationship. "God, I have sinned against you
by ____________." Be truthful and to the point.
T
-Thanksgiving
What are we thankful for? Let God know! "Thank you,
God, for forgiving me and loving me in spite of my sinfulness," is a
simple way to pray. There is no need to expound any further unless you're
feeling especially blessed, and wish to list in detail those aspects of your
life for which you're thankful.
S-
Supplication
Supplication means to plead humbly, and it is the final
component of our prayer model. We have expressed our adoration, confessed our
sins and expressed our thankfulness. Now we are ready to approach God with our
request. In my case, a frequent supplication is "please help me be a better
person." When you pray, you may request something specific as well.
There's nothing wrong with asking God for exactly what we want. Matthew 21:22
assures us, "And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you
have faith."
ACTS is a good model to use as we prepare to pray. The ACTS
acronym helps us remember what we want to say to God. Our ACTS prayers may be
very detailed and lengthy. ACTS can also be very simple, and to the point. What
is more important than the technique we use is that we simply pray.
Former Officer
Sweden
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