How to Be a Vital Part of the Praying People Jesus is Producing/Forming in These Last Days

“Revival is always born in prevailing prayer. This is the one basic unalterable, central principle of awakening.”  Henry Drummond

When Jesus cleansed the temple in His short earthly ministry, to help the bystanders and especially any true worshippers present understand why He did what He did, He proclaimed, “….MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER…” quoting from Isaiah 56:7.

God has always intended that His people would be marked by a devotion to prayer, and that His work on the earth would be released in response to the prayers of His people. In these last days before He returns one of the things that will be thrilling for we Jesus followers to see and be a part of is an ever greater chorus of corporate prayer wherever His church/people can be found. As John R. Mott, the great missionary statesman of almost a century ago wrote, “If added power attends the united prayer of two or three, what mighty triumphs there will be when hundreds of thousands of consistent members of the church are with one accord day by day making intercession for the extension of Christ’s kingdom.”

I have had the privilege of being a part of corporate or group prayer – whether spontaneous or in organized meetings in various states and cities in our nation and in a few other nations since my late high school years. One thing I’ve learned is the enemy hates God’s people coming together to pray and he has many ways/schemes to stop it or hinder it. As Samuel Chadwick stated, “Satan dreads nothing but prayer…The one concern of the devil is to keep the saints from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.”

While I still have a lot to learn about effective praying, I’ve been sensing the need to share some of the lessons I’ve learned in hopes that they might encourage someone out there to keep praying with others despite the warfare and the discouragements along the way. So without further ado, here’s my first lesson:

1.     When you pray in a group setting, do not preach or share your opinions or make a dig/point in your prayer. Your thoughts and insights and passions are important. But best not shared in your prayers. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you stick to the point and get in touch with what internally causes you to want to pontificate when you have an audience. (We all have done this).

2.     When you pray in a group setting, the more people there are present the fewer your words need to be. God delights in everyone getting to participate and no one dominating. He especially delights in our agreeing with what others are praying to whatever extent possible. Philippians 2:3,4 has been a very helpful passage for me in how to conduct myself in group prayer, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important (lit. better) than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interest, but also for the interest of others.”

3.     When you pray in a group setting, and as the Holy Spirit leads, try to follow up or add to what the person who just prayed last prayed. That builds unity and oneness that our Father loves to see in His children.

4.     When someone perhaps in the beginning or towards the end of the prayer time opens up and shares some struggle or perhaps confesses sin, please do not counsel them unless they are asking for advice. Best to just offer to pray for them. If God gives you a clear word for them while praying, then fine to share that. But more times than not simply praying for them is the best response.

5.     Prepare your heart before you attend a prayer gathering. If we rush to a meeting and our day is full right up to the meeting, we will most likely enter the prayer meeting with unresolved and perhaps uncleansed issues in our souls. If we are in a season of difficulty and trial, we might be feeling sorry for ourselves, and in our weakness looking to man instead of to God for comfort and validation. If that is the case, it will definitely have influence on how we conduct ourselves in the prayer meeting.   So it is very important that we watch our time and activity and heart in the hours leading up to the prayer gathering so that we can arrive full of Christ, centered on Christ, seeking first and foremost His kingdom to come and His will to be done. Now it is much better to attend unprepared than to not attend at all. And the stronger in any prayer gathering should be glad to support and strengthen the weaker brethren. But in general showing up prepared in heart and mind is the ideal.

6.     It is not coincidental or random that after Peter exhorts us all to the kind of character that leads to and enables us to devote ourselves to prayer in I Peter 4:7, he immediately follows with this, “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.” Vs. 8. Funny things happen in prayer meetings sometimes before they start, sometimes during, sometimes afterwards. Ideally we would all be “…of sound judgment and sober spirit..” all the time as Peter exhorts in vs. 7. But the reality is sometimes we are not, and because we are not we say fleshly or inappropriate things to one another. When that happens we then have the choice of getting offended and perhaps choosing to not be a part of the said prayer gathering any more or we can choose to let “…love cover a multitude of sins.”

7.     “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit,…” Eph. 6:18.  I was part of a weekly prayer gathering many years ago, and a person also a part of it and perhaps in response to this verse would begin to pray out loud in tongues as soon as the meeting started and literally would pray out loud in tongues the whole time. If we wanted to pray with our minds/in English, we would have to significantly raise our voices and this person – though glad I think that we were there, prayed as if we weren’t.  So is there a place for praying in tongues in a group prayer meeting? Yes/ideally. But we need to  know and be sensitive to our fellow prayers and what their church/theological background is.    I was at a pastors gathering many years ago and there were maybe 12 or so of us. And a few clearly did not know everyone in the group. And one of those began to pray out loud in tongues and it so negatively impacted one of the pastors that he did not attend subsequent pastors gatherings for many years. In my view it would have been better to have prayed in English until you knew who was in the room. But let’s say everyone in your prayer gathering fully embraces the personal and corporate gifts of tongues. In that context, some praying in tongues before you pray with your mind (see I Cor. 14:4, 15, 18,19, 26) is fine as I believe praying in tongues seems to sharpen our discernment, faith and focus in praying with our minds. But ongoing praying in tongues should not be practiced so that understanding and oneness is pursued.

8.     I was part of a weekly prayer meeting many years ago attended by only a few people, and I discovered after a couple of weeks they rarely prayed out loud.   They had somehow developed a mindset that prayer is primarily waiting on the Lord, seeking to hear His voice, and only praying out loud when you are absolutely convinced you are praying according to His will and way. I found this a bit disconcerting, as Jesus often commands us to ask (see https://www.kingdomstreams.net/post/jesus-s-commands-to-ask). Jesus also seems to emphasize in John 15 that asking in prayer leads to fruit bearing which leads to God being glorified. See vs. 7,8 & vs. 16. Waiting on the Lord and listening to His voice, or seeking the leading and moving of the Holy Spirit is important. We should not be like a machine gun – constantly rattling off requests. But as a child of our heavenly Father we should be free to ask according to His will, which is largely layed out for us in Scripture (see I John 5:14, 15).

9.     Heaters, background music, and movement. Re: heaters - In general I’ve observed over all these years men tend to come to prayer meetings preferring that heaters be off or minimally on and women prefer that heaters be on and often not minimally. My opinion is women or those desiring heaters should come with more layers so heaters could be less depended on, and men or those desiring no heaters should come with cool clothing. Perhaps even blankets could be provided for those who tend to get colder easier?   Re: Background music - I’m not a fan of background music, but if most everyone in a given prayer gathering is there is certainly nothing wrong with it. I would just suggest that it not be constant but more occasional.  Re: movement -   I find it hard to sit for an hour or more. And thus I tend to get up and walk around/stretch some. Also I find moving around helps me stay alert, whereas sitting still for an hour can make that more difficult. The nice thing about meeting in a bigger room is there is more space to move around. The not so nice thing is it is harder to hear what is being prayed in a bigger room. And it is very important that we hear what others are praying/saying.

10.  Finally I would remind us all that “mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13). I’ve never been in a perfect prayer meeting and I’ve never conducted myself perfectly in a prayer meeting. Again James reminds us, “…we all stumble in many ways.” (James 3:2). So let’s celebrate anyone who joins us in prayer and especially those who continue to join us despite all of our warts and weaknesses.

Father please make Your people a people of prayer and mature us and transform us so we can better handle the warfare and the bumps and potential offenses along the way for Your glory in Jesus's name, Amen.