And the Place Was Shaken
June 15, 2007 • By John Franklin
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THE PRIORITY OF
PRAYING TOGETHER
In June of 1990 I found myself
unexpectedly in awe. I had joined a team
of about 250 people to participate in a two week evangelistic crusade in Mombasa, Kenya,
a seaside city of roughly a million people.
The organizers divided most of us into teams of three and we went hut to
hut, house to house presenting the gospel.
There is no other way to describe those fourteen days except that the
glory of God simply descended - nearly 30,000 people responded to the
gospel. A few times in my life I have
been in a service or prayer meeting where the manifest presence of God could be
felt, but never before in a whole city.
Wherever we walked, the presence of the Lord tangibly permeated the land,
so much so that often people were being saved by the dozens. If emotions could be converted to food,
incredulity found its way on my plate at every meal. I could tell many stories to illustrate just
how amazing the experience was, but one in particular captures it.
Our little team of three had just
finished witnessing in one of the villages and we were walking down a dirt road
that led to the next. Up ahead were
several Kenyan men seated on stools by the roadside. As we approached one of them arose, walked
briskly toward us, and greeted us in English (not totally unusual because Kenya had been
a British colony). “Excuse me, are you
from America?” he inquired with an obvious agenda. I responded, “Yes.” He continued, “Are you one of the ones who
has come here to tell us the word of God?”
Again I answered, “Yes.” His
voice intensified solemnly, “We’ve heard that you’ve come, and we’ve heard of
Jesus and His great power. Tell me, how
does one become His follower? My friends
and I want to know.” I explained the
plan of salvation to which without the least trace of hesitation he immediately
replied, “Let’s pray.” I thought to
myself, “that was too easy. He must not
have understood.” So I explained it
again. “I understood the first time” he
said with impatience, “Let’s pray!” Do you
see why this story sums it up? The glory
of God fell so powerfully that they came to us to be saved.
You’ve picked up this book on how
to lead prayer meetings, and that’s a nice little story I just told. What have they got to do with each
other? Actually, everything.
The revival in Mombasa had begun months earlier through
prayer meetings, and prayer meetings had continued steadily until our
arrival. In fact, during our two week
stay there was never a time that some church failed to pray all night. I had been learning God required prayer as a
prerequisite to His working powerfully, so I prayed I could attend one of these
meetings. God in His graciousness
promptly answered, and a few days later I found myself in an all night prayer
meeting. Four congregations had come
together to pray in one of the sister churches.
That church, one of the nicest I saw, was by our standards a crude
structure with sparse accommodations.
Rough, unfinished concrete constituted the floor. Homemade benches of plank lumber served as
the pews. Two or three low watt bulbs
provided all the lighting. The air
conditioning system consisted of open windows.
By American standards most of our garages were nicer than this
building. However, in stark contrast to
this humble edifice stood the rich hearts of the people. Faces etched in joy fervently worshiped the
Lord. They sang, they testified, they
listened to preaching, they prayed. We
disbanded and I went to bed at 7:00am.
Four hours later I awoke completely, totally refreshed, without the
least trace of fatigue. So great was the
presence of God in my hotel room that I didn’t even rise from my bed. I merely slid out from under the sheets to my
knees. Through Bible reading, I sensed
that our day would be particularly blessed, and indeed that’s exactly what
happened. That afternoon in our
witnessing, not a single adult rejected the gospel, the only day that
happened.
Do you see the connection? The whole revival had come through prayer
meetings, and the greatest day I experienced followed an all night prayer
meeting.
This chapter has one purpose;
however, it’s not to convince you that we must pray if we would see the power
of God. You might assume that based on
what I’ve just written, but I have something much more specific in mind. Before I tell you what it is, I wish there
were a way to communicate the significance of what you’re about to read. Perhaps if you could imagine us at a coffee
shop sipping drinks having a chat about spiritual things. When the topic turned to prayer, you would
see me preface this truth by putting down the cup and pushing it aside, lean
forward with eyes narrowed and speak in a lowered voice. “What I’m about to tell you is one of the
reasons why most of our churches don’t have very much spiritual power. In times past this was practiced, but we’ve
abandoned it by and large in our day.” You would catch the intensity and
conviction in my tone, “The greatest
workings of God come by corporate prayer; and will we not see the power of God
in sufficient measure to transform the world around us until we pray
together. As a leader you must make
praying together on the same priority level as preaching/teaching”
If I sound a little melodramatic, good, then I’m communicating! It really is that important. I so desire to sow this seed of conviction in
your heart’s soil of resoluteness that when you put down this chapter, you will
conclude that your spiritual fate depends not just on prayer, but praying with
other Christians. Personal prayer lives
alone will not result in the working of God to the degree needed to spiritually
transform our lives, our churches, our cities or our nation. God in His sovereignty has determined that
something happens when we pray together that transcends us praying separately. His working increases exponentially, not
additionally. When we pray individually,
one plus one equals two; but when we pray together, one plus one equals three. Since these statements are somewhat radical,
I would like to submit five reasons to justify this premise. Later I will also make some clarifications
about the role of our personal prayer life, which I am not trying to
minimize. In fact, I believe that they
are like two wings of an airplane. Which
one would you rather do without? The absence
of either would be fatal. But that’s
just the point, if we don’t pray together we will go down a spiritually
slippery slope. If we do pray together
God’s way, we can expect a revolution of our society.
THE PROOFS OF WHY
THIS IS TRUE
So why the swashbuckling style of swinging a brash pen
with such bold assertions? What’s the
hard core evidence to support these statements?
Many exist, but for space sake, we’ll limit it to five proofs. I’m listing them according to the process and
in order that I learned them.
One: What The
Apostles Believed And Practiced
Have you ever been reading the
Bible when it “happened” to you? You’re
reading along minding your own business, when all of a sudden you realize a
passage does not mean what you always thought it meant. Let me tell you how it happened to me early
one morning several years ago. I opened
my Bible to Acts 6, my quiet time passage for the day. To be candid I approached it lazily and
disinterestedly. I knew that chapter
recorded what many call the choosing of the first deacons. So, to give it a little spice, I flipped up
the Greek on my Bible software. I began reading nonchalantly in verse 1:
Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying,
there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their
widows were neglected in the daily distribution.
The word distribution
was actually diakonia in Greek. It’s from the same basic root family as the
word deacon and ministry. It wasn’t just a
functional duty, but you could see the ministry aspect of serving people. “How interesting,” I thought, “but no big
deal.” I continued reading verse 2:
Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said,
"It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve
tables.
The word serve
was diakonein in Greek – again, the
same root family – again interesting, but no big deal. I read verse 3 without incident:
Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good
reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this
business;
Then I came to verse 4, when all of the sudden it happened
to me. In English it reads:
but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of
the word.
That’s not what it says in Greek. It literally reads but we to THE prayer and the DIAKONIA of the word will steadfastly
continue. When I read that I had to push away from the computer screen in
disbelief.
You see all my life I had
interpreted that passage to mean the Apostles recognized the need to delegate
ministries responsibilities to others so that they would be freed up to spend
time in prayer and receive a fresh word from the Lord to preach to the
people. They realized they couldn’t
become so enmeshed in the work of the Lord that their personal relationship
with Him suffered and therefore become ineffectual from the pulpit (or wherever
it was they preached/taught in the 1st century). I always assumed they were referring to their
personal prayer life.
Perhaps I concluded that from
experience. Right out of seminary I was
privileged to pastor a megachurch – of three people. Only one faithful family remained, and as a
young 25 year old I went there to rebuild the broken foundations with
them. Early on I discovered an interesting
dynamic. I quickly realized I not only
had the honor of preaching the sermon on Sunday; but also of scrubbing the
toilet on Monday. Any work to be done
fell to one of us four. Soon in the
bustle of activity my own personal prayer time suffered and I found a negative
effect on my preaching. Not having as
much time in prayer hurt my sensitivity to God’s voice, so I struggled more in
sermons. This experience colored my
belief that the Apostles modeled the necessity of delegating responsibilities
in order to guard time for prayer so as to preach powerfully. That morning I realized that was not the
point of this passage. Mouth agape, it
dawned on me they were not referring to their personal prayer life, but to the
ministry of mobilizing the people of God to pray together. They were declaring that the two ministries
they especially must do as church leaders were mobilizing the church to pray
and to preach/teach the word of God. Do
you see why I was so shocked? What
tremendous implications!
Here’s what clued me in that the
passage speaks of the ministry of prayer instead of their personal prayer
lives. First, the context of the passage
revolves around ministries. In verse one
there is a problem with a ministry. In
verse two the Apostles discuss what ministry they will and won’t do. In verse three and four they choose seven to
put them in charge of the ministry to widows, while they go to the prayer and
the ministry of the word. You can almost
see them drawing this up on the chalkboard like a football coach. “OK team, the O’s will take the widows; the
X’s will take prayer and the Word. Any
questions? OK, on three.” Nothing in this passage refers to anything
personal, only ministries. Second,
although the word ministry does not specifically occur before the word prayer,
the definite article the does. The verse reads but we to THE prayer and the diakonia of the word will steadfastly
continue. They do not mean prayer in
general, but have something specific in mind.
The syntax creates the possibility that prayer and the word are twin
ideas. Later I would read 13
commentaries to double check. Eleven of
them didn’t comment either way, but the two that did confirmed they spoke of
corporate prayer.
My surprise soon turned into a
squirming discomfort because of the implications. I mused, “Are the Apostles actually saying
that out of all the ministries they could do, what they cannot let go of is
preaching/teaching the word of God and leading the prayer life of the
church? Is this really what the Bible
pictures here – that leaders ought to consider guiding the corporate prayer
life of the church just as critical a priority as preaching/teaching the Word
of God?” I thought, “I’d better be right
on this one. I’d better not draw such a
weighty conclusion from one passage alone.”
Then an idea popped in my mind.
“Well, if this is indeed the case, then it should be reflected in the
book of Acts. They should live their
lives that way.”
So I went and looked up every
occurrence of prayer in Acts preceding chapter 6 and discovered prayer
mentioned five times – Acts 1:14. 1:24, 2:42, 3:1, 4:23-31. Amazingly, every single verse pictured the
Apostles leading others in prayer, not once is their personal prayer life
recorded. In every instance we see the
Apostles involved in leading the people of God to pray together; therefore,
these stories confirm that Acts 6:4 speaks of a corporate ministry of prayer.
This pattern certainly
strengthened the case, but I really wanted to be sure. Then I thought, “If they apostles really
believed this way, where would they have gotten that idea?” Well, Jesus obviously. So I decided to study Jesus on prayer.
Two: What Jesus
Modeled and Taught On Prayer
I searched the words pray, prays, prayed, praying, prayer, prayers,
ask, asks, asked, asking, watch, watches, watched, and watching in my concordance.
I used seven criteria for selecting verses (see Appendix A), but
basically I was after the core teaching of Jesus on prayer. I wanted to know what He commanded, or gave
as a condition for God to answer favorably.
I searched and identified 37 verses in the gospels that fit these
criteria and discovered an amazing reality.
Out of those 37 verses, guess how many times the word you was plural? Amazingly 33 out of 37 verses are in the
corporate. Unfortunately, you can be either in the singular or
plural in English. Given the
individualistic nature of American society, most people tend to read it as
singular when in reality the opposite usually holds true. For example, Matthew 7:7 and Mark 11:25
actually say:
You all ask, and it will be given to you all; you all seek and you all
will find; you
all knock, and it will be opened to you all.
And whenever you all stand
praying, if you all have anything against anyone, you
all forgive him, that you all’s Father in Heaven may forgive you all of
you all’s trespasses.
The fact that Jesus taught in the
corporate made a compelling case by itself, but Jesus also framed the condition
for answered prayer in such a way that heightened the stipulation of praying
together. He told His disciples in
Matthew 18:19, “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.” He could have said “if anyone asks…” Instead He deliberately crafted His words in
the plural. Evidently God has designed
prayer to especially require we pray together.
Finally most of Jesus’ recorded
times of private prayer occur prior to choosing the disciples (Mark 1:37, Luke
3:21, 6:12) whereas after choosing them most of His recorded prayer times
involved the disciples (Luke 9:28, 11:1, Mat 26:40). Even in the Garden of Gethsemane
when facing the greatest crisis of His life, the looming shadow of a cross,
even then He asked the disciples to watch with Him. In every way, He modeled and commanded the
necessity of praying together.
The case was growing, and I began
to understand why, which I’ll mention at the end of this chapter. However, I wanted to test this truth in other
ways. Knowing that God is the same
yesterday, today, and forever, I decided to look at the pattern of the Bible as
a whole. Another very surprising dynamic
emerged.
Three: The Pattern
of Scripture before and after the resurrection
I sought
to answer this question Did the mighty
moves of God come primarily through the prayer life of an individual or two or
more believers? To find the answer,
I read Genesis through Esther, then Acts through Revelation. Both the Old and the New Testament record
examples of private and corporate prayer, and God exercised His power through
both examples. However, it quickly
became apparent that a defining moment, a spiritual watershed divided the way
God worked. In the Old Testament, God
usually chose an individual through which He communicated or exercised His
power in response to prayer. For
example, God only spoke with Abraham about the promised son (Gen 15:4). Moses was by himself on Mount
Sinai interceding for the people when God decided that He would
forgive them (Ex 32:14). Joshua by
himself apparently cries out for the sun to stand still (Josh 10:12). No one other than Samson pleaded with God and
the temple came tumbling down (Jud 16:28).
Of course, corporate prayer does exist in the Old Testament such as the
case of the temple dedication and revivals; but even then it is exercised in a
markedly different manner from the New Testament. For example, typically the
pattern for the Old is that the people cry out to God, but the answer does not
come to anyone but the judge or the prophet (twice the prophetess, perhaps
directly to the king on occasion). Most
often kings seem dependent on hearing from the prophet (1 Kings 22:8, 2 Sam
24:7, 1Chr 12:5, 2 Chr 11:2, 12:7, Is 38:2-5, etc). Likewise, the people of God consulted the man
of God (1 Sam 9:9) because they do not hear for themselves. God usually did not answer them directly, but
primarily communicated with them through the prophet, an intermediary.
In the New Testament this
radically changes. In the Book of Acts
the 120 are gathered in an upper room praying in one accord when Pentecost
comes (Acts 1:13, 2:1). The group prayed
for wisdom in knowing who Judas’ replacement should be (Acts 1:24). When Peter and John reported the Sanhedrin’s
threats, the church cried out to God in one accord for boldness and the place
was shaken (Acts 4:24, 31). They prayed
over the seven chosen to serve the widows (Acts 6:6). Peter and John interceded for those who had
not received the Holy Spirit yet and He came (Acts 8:15-17). Peter was in prison but the church was
fervently pleading with God for him (Acts 12:5). While the prophets and teachers were praying
and fasting, the Holy Spirit called Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary
journey (Acts 13:1-2). Then the church
prayed before sending them out (Acts 13:3).
Paul and Barnabas commended the new churches to God by prayer (Acts
14:23). Paul and his companions were
going to prayer when Paul cast the demon out of the slave girl (Acts
16:16). Paul and Silas were praying when
the earthquake happened that resulted in the jailer’s conversion and their
release (Acts 16:25). Paul prayed with
all the Ephesians in his farewell address (Acts 20:36). Finally, they prayed with the disciples from Tyre (Acts 21:5).
Again the goal is not to deny the
role of individual prayer. Ananias was
praying alone when he was told to go to Saul (Acts 9:10). Peter was on the rooftop by himself when he
had his famous vision leading him to Cornelius (Acts 10:9). However, in Acts and the rest of the New
Testament the majority of God’s recorded workings come when His people pray
together.
This transition naturally raised
the question, “Why the difference from the Old to the New Testament.” No verse expressly spells it out, but I
believe it’s safe to make logical conclusions based on the covenant
change. Under the Old Covenant the
people of God conducted their relationship with Him through the law. Because the veil was not rent, they did not
have access to the Holy Spirit in the same way we do today. As I mentioned earlier, when God wanted to
speak to His people, no one except the prophets or a few leaders could directly
interact with God. This is why God’s
response to individual prayer dominates in the Old Testament. That radically changed under the New
Covenant. Hebrews 8:11 states,
"None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying,
`Know the LORD,'
for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.” Now His Holy Spirit has been poured out on
all flesh, sons and daughters (Acts 2:17).
Every child of God has equal access to the throne of God, not just a few
select individuals.
The fact that every Christian can
know God experientially creates the possibility of experiencing God together;
however, by itself it doesn’t mean anything.
We could all be like millions of radios – all receiving transmissions
from a tower, but individual, separate, stand alone units. But Scripture teaches that the moment God
saves us, we are baptized by the Holy Spirit into one body (1 Cor 12:13). The foundation of our new spiritual life
requires interdependence – of course, interdependence does exist in the Old
Testament, but not in the same sense. Never
is the analogy of a body used for the people of God until the birth of the
church. The baptism into the Holy Spirit
so intricately joined us together that we are no longer independent units
fitted together, rather we are most like flesh and sinew. God so raised the level of connectivity that
just as a body part can’t accomplish its function except by depending on other
body parts, neither can we do much of spiritual significance except connected
and interdependent with one another.
Although our roles and functions vary, God does not allow us to conduct
our personal relationship with Him in isolation. He has ordained that our service in Christ
requires teamwork with others. This does
not mean a believer’s personal prayer life is now obsolete or has become of
lesser importance, but it does imply that being a body mandates we regularly
encounter Him together. Focusing on the
personal prayer life only would be equivalent to trying to play Mozart with one
hand. All ten fingers prove absolutely
necessary to create the music. Likewise,
the new covenant with its body-life spills over into every aspect of our
relationship with God and others, demanding that we practice both personal and
corporate prayer.
The Scriptural evidence proved
convincing, but I also decided to test history.
If that’s the way God worked in the Bible, then He also should be
consistent through the ages. I applied
the same basic question Since the
resurrection, when have the greatest moves of God primarily occurred?
Four: Historically
God’s Greatest Works Have Come When
Christians Were
Fervent in United Prayer.
A study of church history and
asking experts confirmed my expectations.
In fact, I did not discover a single example in which the church
transformed the culture when Christians did not spend significant time praying
together.
Here are a few examples. In 1857 America was in the middle of a
strong economy. As is so often the case
in prosperity, morals began slipping and a decreased interest in the things of
God prevailed. Alarmed by the spiritual
state of affairs, a Dutch Reformed layman named Jeremiah Lamphier tacked up
notices in New York City
calling for a weekly prayer meeting on Wednesdays from noon till one. The first week, only six showed up and none
of them before 12:30. The next week, though, the attendance jumped to twenty.
Then the numbers nearly doubled again, and on the fifteenth day they began
meeting every weekday to pray. About
that time Wall Street crashed. The
ensuing financial panic arrested the country’s attention and turned hearts
toward heavenly matters. So great and so
immediate were the changes that in less than six months time more than 10,000 –
50,0000 businessmen were meeting daily in New York to pray during the noon
hour. Inexplicably, that little,
inauspicious prayer meeting Lamphier started became the pattern God used. The movement leapt to every single major city
in America
by early 1858. The response of God to
His people was that 1,000,000 Americans out of a population of 30,000,000 were
converted in less than two years. At the
height of revival, perhaps 50,000 a week were being saved. These examples indicate that the working of
God in history is consistent with the biblical pattern.
Fervent prayer meetings
precipitated the Shantung Revival in northern China, 1927-37. God’s Spirit suddenly descended, and the once
anemic church ensconced in a spiritually dead culture began witnessing with
dramatic results. One Chinese pastor
commented, “When this revival began, we had about 50 members in our little
church. Now we have at least one
Christian in each of the 1,000 homes in this town.” Another pastor repeated a similar
experience. His little church had only
30 members, but when the revival came he baptized 89 on one occasion, 203 on
another occasion and 20-30 every month after that. No one knows with certainty
the number of conversions, but given the testimony of Dr. C. L. Culpepper, one
may logically deduce that hundreds of thousands were swept into the kingdom,
perhaps one million.
The activity of God in answer to
corporate prayer may also be seen on smaller scales. Rees Howells journeyed to South Africa as
a missionary. Six weeks after arriving
he joined in a prayer meeting. Out of
that came an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in which they had two revival
meetings a day for 15 months, and all day on Friday. Thousands were converted as a result. J. O. Fraser, a missionary to the Lisu people
in Southwest China, saw tens of thousands of
conversions during his ministry. He
encouraged small-group prayer in England for his ministry. Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China, called a
prayer meeting to ask for 100 new missionaries.
He then returned to England
and spoke to a large group. One hundred
men and women volunteered to return with him and $55,000 in cash was donated,
even though he had not asked for a single offering.
History had verified the same
pattern. I then applied this test to
God’s current activity today.
Five: The Mighty Moves of God Today Occur Where
Believers Practice
Corporate Prayer
Let me ask you a question, “How’s
Christianity doing on a worldwide scale?
Are we winning or losing?” If the
Lord tarries, future generations will probably look back on ours with
envy. Christianity is dramatically
advancing across the world.
The most optimistic scenario I’ve
heard came from Avery Willis, Vice-President of the International Mission
Board. He reported in the fall of 1999
that it is possible that 70
percent of all people who have ever been saved have come to Christ in the 20th
century; 70 percent of them since 1945; 70 percent of them since 1990. That means as of the turn of the century,
possibly one third of all Christians who have ever lived have been converted
since 1990! In Nepal just
2,000 Christians were known in 1990; but there were 500,000 by the end of the
year 2,000. Cambodia claimed a scarce 600
Christians in 1990, but boasted 60,000 by the 21st century. No known Christians occupied Mozambique in
1988, now 300 churches exist in just one area.
Just a few years ago in Asia, there
were about 15 million Christians; today there are more than 100 million. In Korea during the 20th
century the country advanced from being 1-3% Christians to perhaps 40%
Christian today. The African continent
has about the same percentages, with East Africa
especially ranking as one of the greatest movements of God in history. I’ve already mentioned my story out of Kenya, but
other countries are also experiencing the hand of God as well. Uganda, for example, once suffered
terrible atrocities under the Islamic dictator, Idi Amin, who ravaged the
country. Later the AIDS rate skyrocketed
to claim approximately one third of the population. So devastating was the crisis that the World
Health Organization predicted the collapse of the Ugandan economy by the year
2000. Today revival has come to that
country and the AIDS rate is only 5%. So
great is God’s working that one church alone went from 7 to 2,000 in attendance
in two weeks; currently they boast 22,000 members, and have planted 150 other
churches. In our hemisphere about 40,000
evangelicals lived in South America, today
about 40,000,000. Central
America likewise is experiencing a tremendous movement of
God. In India one denomination tracked
about 3,000,000 conversions in eight years.
Even the Muslim world, although not experiencing the same kind of large
numbers, has proportionally speaking seen an astronomical increase in
converts.
Christianity is advancing in most quarters except four
primary areas. If you live in North America you know one of them. The other three are Japan, Australia,
and Western Europe. Guess what one of the common denominators is
everywhere Christianity marches forward?
The Christians spend significant time praying together. In Korea and China many churches meet every
morning to pray at least an hour before going to work and then they have all
night prayer meetings on Friday. In India where one
denomination tracked 3,000,000 conversions in 8 years, the believers began
prayer meetings 1 to 2 times a week for their lost neighbors. In all the areas where the gospel is gaining
ascendancy, Christians spend time praying together.
In America
we still practice the ministry of the Word.
It’s a centerpiece in most Protestant worship services. Outstanding radio teachers can be heard
anywhere in the country. Books, videos,
CD’s, and tapes proliferate like no other time in history. Many churches have Bible study groups and
Sunday Schools. However, by and large we
have abandoned meaningful prayer meetings.
Most that remain are anemic and weak.
That begs the question: might
there be a connection, especially in light of God’s activity worldwide? Could we be spiritually imploding because
we’ve forsaken what the Apostles guarded as one of their top two priorities?
Do you see why I’ve written this chapter? These modern day examples of God’s
working reflect the biblical and historical pattern that we must pray together
if we are to see God’s power in sufficient measure. By and large American Christians have
abandoned fervent, united, corporate prayer.
The Apostles, Jesus, the pattern of Scripture, history, and God’s
current working today bear witness that until we return to this practice we
should only expect to see a worsening declension in societal morals and
powerlessness in our churches.
If you
are a leader of the people of God, you must make your ministry of mobilizing
the people of to prayer together an equal priority of preaching or teaching the
Word of God!
WHY IS PRAYING
TOGETHER SO IMPORTANT?
I endeavored prove that we must pray together, but it
naturally raises the question why has
God ordained that we must pray together?
The Apostles were where I first noticed this truth in Scripture and it
mystified me why they were so adamant.
After much consideration I finally understood.
First: The Heart Stays In A Love Relationship
I used to think that the reason
the early church had such power with God in Acts was because they practiced
missions and evangelism. From experience
I had observed that whenever a church aggressively involved herself in missions
and evangelism, God blessed that church.
No real surprise, for Jesus commanded some form of the Great Commission
on at least four different occasions after His resurrection. So naturally I assumed the cause of their power with God in Acts
stemmed from their obedience to be on mission with Him.
I no
longer believe that. I now believe their
practice of missions and evangelism was the effect
of their power with God. Here’s why I
say that – have you ever tried to lead someone to practice missions and
evangelism who does not spend any time in the word of God, nor regularly cry
out to God with other believers? It’s
very closely akin to pulling teeth. What
do you have to do to motivate that person?
Everything you know to do, and even then it rarely works. But let me ask you another question. What do you have to do to involve a believer
who is spending regular time devouring, applying and obeying the word of God,
who is constantly on his knees with other dynamic believers crying out to God and
experiencing God move in response to his prayers? Far from beating him into action, you merely
have to point out the opportunity.
Do you
see what the Apostles were thinking as leaders? They assumed, “If we can do the two things
that have the most immediate, direct, heart impact on those we lead, if we can
guide them to apply the Word and encounter the presence of God with other
believers, then the majority of it will take care of itself.” The effect of the Apostles practicing the two
ministries that most immediately, directly, impacted the heart was that the
people served God in evangelism and missions.
The byproduct of hearing/obeying the word of God and praying with others
was being on mission.
I’m not
advocating we do nothing to encourage missions and evangelism, but I am saying
the emphasis of leading should fall on shepherding the heart of God’s
people. If the heart’s soil is
fertilized, the stalk of service quickly sprouts. Isn’t it interesting in most American
denominations that conversions have flat-lined or declined in the midst of a
tremendous population growth and an ever increasing number of evangelism
programs? In my own denomination we are
baptizing no more than we were 50 years ago.
There used to be a 1 to 20 ratio of baptisms to members. Now it’s over 1 to 40. We’ve doubled in size, but are producing an
inferior quality of believer. Not
coincidentally we began abandoning the sanctity of our midweek prayer service
in the 1950’s and filling up that time with competing programs. Some churches have abandoned the prayer
meeting altogether, others keep some leftover form of it, but in reality it is
nothing more than another service with token attention given to prayer. And the prayers offered are usually nothing
more than an organ recital – lungs, livers, kidneys, etc. The heart has been denied the presence of God
and the love relationship has withered.
Second: The People Of God Stay On His Agenda
The book of Acts has a series of seven crises that
threatened to derail the church from God’s agenda but the church successfully
handled them. These accounts follow a
fourfold pattern.
·
The church is growing.
·
Trouble arises that threatens the church’s
continued effectiveness.
·
They resolve the problem successfully.
·
The church prospers.
For example, Peter and John are threatened to quit
proclaiming Jesus, but correctly respond to the intimidation(4:17, 33), Ananias and Sapphira violate the holiness of
the church, but Peter quickly deals with it (5:9, 14), the Apostles are arrested and beaten, but
they continue proclaiming the word (5:40, 5:42-6:1), the widow conflict poses a
potential church split, but they resolve it (6:1-6:7), Persecution arises at
the stoning of Stephen, but they persist in preaching. (8:1, 8:4).
Herod killed James and slated Peter for execution, but God released him
(12:2-11). Certain Jews taught that
Gentiles must be circumcised to be saved, but the apostles refute that error
and avert a church split (15:1, 22, 32).
Luke
explicitly recorded corporate prayer in resolving two of these threats to God’s
agenda, and it exists in another story.
When the Sanhedrin threatened Peter and John, God gave them the boldness
they needed through praying together (4:31).
Peter’s escaped Herod’s clutches because the church interceded for him
(12:5). In the resolving the widow
problem they prayed over the seven they appointed. Although the other stories do not have prayer
listed explicitly, we can confidently assume prayer played an integral role. Acts 2:42 and 6:4 reveal it was a lifestyle
practice of the leaders, so they naturally would have spent time in prayer
although not recorded in the other stories.
Because they depended on God,
they never were sidetracked in their mission.
Neither external threats nor internal conflict derailed the church. They continued in one accord, and from the
strength of that position the church turned the world upside down. The ear of their heart stayed tuned to the
voice of God’s heart. The howling winds
of persecution, the troubled waters of opinion differences, and the land mines
of faulty theological belief systems did not overcome that glorious group. Guiding the people of God to stay in the
presence of God guarded their usefulness to God.
Third: You Model What You Want Others To Practice
Question:
What is important to those you lead and what do they practice?
Answer: What they see you practice.
As a leader God gave you your assignment to spiritually
guide others. People by nature are
imitators. It’s much easier to grasp
something by watching and participating than it is to read and discuss. I learned this afresh through co-hosting a
conference with First Baptist Church Woodstock in Atlanta, GA. In seven months they went from about 100 in
prayer meeting attendance to as many as 1,000, and God was answering prayer
powerfully. When this happened we
decided to hold a conference on having a dynamic midweek prayer service and
promote it throughout multiple states.
The one day event consisted of training from 9:00 to 4:15, followed by
actually participating in the church’s prayer meeting that evening. To my surprise over 600 attended about half
of them pastors. Hearts were obviously
stirred, so much so the energy was palpable, and the evaluations bore witness
to how positively conferees viewed their experience. However, the real evidence came over the next
15 months. I’ve been in many a service
with spiritual spasms – excitement for three days then back to normal – nothing
more than transitory emotional interruption.
However, I received unsolicited feedback from attendees 14 of the next
15 months about what a difference the conference had made in their churches
when they implemented the principles they learned. The fruit remained from this conference. In every instance except one, the comments
were along these lines: “The teaching
times were good, but what really helped me was actually experiencing the prayer
meeting that evening.” If you want to
teach others to pray, you must model prayer.
The Apostles knew the best discipleship strategy was to model prayer and
create opportunities to pray.
CONCLUSION
Oh, dear reader, do you see why
what you are seeking to grow in is so important? By leading other believers to pray you will
engage in one of the most important practices of the Christian life. You will encourage those you lead to stay in
a love relationship with God; you will create an infinitely greater likelihood
that you stay on God’s agenda; and you will practice the means through which
God has ordained He especially works. If
we are to see a spiritual awakening in this land, a reversal of the headlong
rush into the moral cesspool in which we currently swim, then there must be
fervent intense prayer meetings sprouting up all over this land. If your church would see the power of God in
supernatural ways, if the power of God is to descend so that Christians are
renewed and the lost come to under conviction of sin, then lead your people to
pray. I know of no other foundation
equal in importance to praying together, save repentance and the Word. May God bless you as seek to follow him more
fully in this matter.
