Praying Together: Examples

On June 15, 2011March 21, 2015 By BrianIn Church Life, Habit of Prayer, Revival2 Comments

In recents posts I have considered God’s expectation that we would pray together, as well as our excuses for not praying together. As God expects his people to pray together, so we see God’s people praying together throughout the Bible and church history.

Israel

In II Chronicles 6, Solomon gathers the people together and leads them in a prayer of dedication for the new temple. In II Chronicles 20, Jehoshaphat gathers the people together to fast and pray for God’s help against a massive invading army. And God sends a powerful answer as the invading army made up of several nations destroys itself. In Ezra 8, as the people are planning to return to Israel after the Exile, Ezra calls the people to fast and pray for protection on their journey. And God sends a powerful answer as they all arrive safely. In Nehemiah 8-9, the people gather to hear the Word, and then pray – confessing their sins and dedicating themselves to the Lord. Or consider Psalms 44, 60, 80, and others which are called corporate laments – cries for help that the people would pray together for their country.

And then consider the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth in Luke 1. While Zechariah is in the temple offering incense, verse 10 tells us that “the whole multitude of the people were praying outside.” This offering of incense and corporate prayer was a daily event. Indeed in Acts 3:1, we read that Peter and John went to the temple “at the hour of prayer.” God’s people Israel knew what it meant to pray together.

The Early Church

If Israel knew what it meant to pray together, how much more did the early church. Indeed the entire book of Acts seems to take place in an atmosphere of prayer – individuals praying, apostles committing themselves to prayer (6:4), and the church gathering together for prayer.

After the Ascension, the 120 followers of Jesus gather together for eight days and “all these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer” (1:14). In this context of prayer, Peter realizes the need to replace Judas, so they put two men forward, and then pray together for guidance (1:24). As they continue to pray together, the Holy Spirit comes upon them at Pentecost. After eight days of praying together and filled with the Holy Spirit, they are now ready to go out and preach the good news of Jesus Christ. As a result 3000 people are saved, baptized, and added to the church. And they all devote themselves to the apostles’ teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers (2:42). In the context, the prayers is a clear reference to praying together. The church that was born in prayer together continued in prayer together, and gospel spread.

After Peter and John are arrested for preaching and then released, they meet with the church. And they “lifted their voices together to God” in prayer (4:23-31). And God gives them a powerful answer as they are filled with the Spirit and boldness to continue to spread the gospel. And so they continue to devote themselves to prayer as the gospel spreads, persecution comes, and the church spreads to the Samaritans and Gentiles.

James is killed, and Peter is imprisoned. What does the church do? They make earnest prayer together to God (12:5). And God sends a powerful answer as Peter’s chains fall off and all the doors open for him to escape. He goes to a house where “many were gathered together and were praying” (12:12), to tell them what happened before he leaves the area.

Meanwhile in Antioch, Paul, Barnabas, and others are gathered in worship, which probably included prayer. As they are worshipping, the Spirit calls Paul and Barnabas to go on a missions trip. And so they fasted and prayed dedicating these men to God for the work God had called them to do. Notice they fasted. That implies they skipped at least one meal. This was not a five minute prayer. They spent hours together praying for these two men. As Paul and Barnabas finish their missions trip they go back through the towns they had visited appointing elders for each church they had planted. And with prayer and fasting they dedicated these newly appointed elders to the Lord. Notice again, these were not five minute prayers. Fasting implies several hours at each town praying together over these men.

At Philippi, Paul and Silas go to a riverside where they are looking for a place of prayer. They find a group of God-worshippers praying together (16:13). Paul shares the gospel with them and at least some of them were saved. They continue to use the riverside as a place to pray together (16:16). Then after Paul casts out an evil spirit and is arrested and beaten, we find Paul and Silas in jail. And what are they doing? They are praying and praising God! They are holding a prayer meeting right there in jail. And again God powerfully answers as an earthquake comes and every door is opened. As a result, the jailer is saved.

Paul continues his missionary journeys. On his way to Jerusalem he meets the elders of the Ephesian church, and there on the beach they pray together (20:36). At Tyre, he meets with the church and before they leave they all pray together (21:5).

The early church devoted itself to praying together when they met together, when they were in trouble, and when God called people to new ministries.

Recent Church History

Undoubtedly we could trace the example of praying together throughout church history, but let’s fast forward to the last few hundred years. The Great Awakening in the 1740’s was tied to people praying together. In the 1850’s the Great Prayer Revival started with six men praying together and exploded across the United States with thousands gathering to pray together. In the 1860’s Charles Spurgeon’s church had prayer meetings every morning and every evening – no wonder that church became such a powerful church and Spurgeon was such a powerful preacher! The Welsh Revival in 1904-05 and the revival in Korea later in that same century were also tied to praying together.

Three Conclusions

As we consider all these examples of God’s people praying together, let me suggest three conclusions.

1. We should have special times set aside to pray together. We see people gathering for special times of prayer to dedicate the temple, themselves, new missionaries, and new elders. We see people gathering together for special times of prayer to seek God’s help – in the face of an invading army, for protection in a long journey, and for deliverance from prison. The church has a clear example to call God’s people together for special times of prayer for dedication and help.

2. We should be devoted to regularly pray together. The early church devoted themselves to praying together. It was a regular part of what it meant to be a Christian. There were groups that met for prayer. Whether they met by a river, on the beach, or in a prison, they prayed together. The church has a clear example that we should gather regularly for prayer, and that praying together should be a natural part of meeting together.

3. We should expect powerful answers when we pray together. We see God defeat armies, provide safe travels, free people from prisons, and bring great revivals through united efforts of prayer. Now God is sovereign, and we cannot force his hand. But we see a clear pattern – when God’s people pray together, God answers. And if we don’t pray together, he can’t answer. “You do not have, because you do not ask” (James 4:2). The church has clear encouragement to pray together expecting God to do great things as we do.

Praying Together: Our Excuses

On June 13, 2011March 21, 2015 By BrianIn Church Life, Habit of Prayer

Last week I wrote about God’s expectation that we pray together. Today I want to address some of our excuses. Some I have heard from others. Others I found in Daniel Henderson’s book Fresh Encounters – to which I am indebted to for helping me think through corporate prayer more clearly (see my brief review of the book here). So here are seven excuses we use to avoid praying together.

1. We are only supposed to pray privately. This excuse stems from a misunderstanding of Matthew 6:5-6 which says:

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

The misunderstanding is that Jesus only wants us to pray privately in our room (or KJV: our closet). But the issue Jesus is addressing is not so much where we pray as our motive for prayer. Are we praying to be seen by others (to impress them with our godliness) or are we praying to be heard by God. And there is a world of difference between giving a “prayer show” out in public and meeting together with other believers to pray together in a room.

And by the way, we are talking about a room, not a modern closet. When the KJV was translated, a closet was not a place to store your clothes, but a room. We can see this from old castles that have large rooms called the King’s Closet (see picture below from Windsor Castle). A KJV closet had plenty of space for many believers to gather for prayer.

Finally, that Jesus leaves ample room for us to meet not only alone in a room, but also with other believers is clear from the fact that Jesus goes on to teach the disciples a pattern for corporate prayer in v9-13 (see last post).

2. Praying privately is just as good as praying together. In other words, the excuse is that we can just stay home and pray on our own instead of gathering together to pray. Certainly there is some truth here. We can and should pray privately. But that doesn’t excuse us from praying together. The two are not the same. For instance in Matthew 18:18-20, Jesus speaks of two or three gathering in his name, and he is there in their midst. Of course he is present everywhere, so the implication seems to be that he is present in some different way than when we pray alone. Praying together is simply different than praying alone, and we cannot neglect either one.

3. Praying together is boring. Many people find a few people leading in long prayers with long lists of requests to be rather boring. But praying together shouldn’t be boring. Communion with God shouldn’t be boring. The problem may be our approach rather than the act. What if we infused Scripture and praise into our times of prayer? What if we prayed shorter prayers so more people could lead? The problem is not praying together, but how we do it. That said, the problem may also be in our hearts. Do we come with anticipation of spending time together before the Lord? Or do we come with bad attitudes. Even an amusement park can be boring if we go with a bad attitude.

4. Praying together is just a gossip session. Certainly a request-driven prayer meeting can devolve into this. But we can (and should) guard against it. Keeping the “share” time short and the prayer time long can help. Being careful to only pray for things which are public knowledge or that we have permission to share will also help. At any rate, rejecting corporate prayer because there is the danger of gossip, is like proverbially throwing out the baby with the bath water.

5. No one else is doing it. This excuse is self-perpetuating. I don’t because you don’t, and you don’t because I don’t. But parents would never allow this excuse to stand from their children (none of my friends go to church, none of my friends are waiting for marriage, none….). As I have heard often – if you were friends were jumping off a cliff would you follow? And if we are not praying together, we are in fact jumping off a spiritual cliff.

6. I’m too busy. Really? Too busy to spend time with other believers communing with God? In that case there needs to be a serious rearrangement of priorities.

7. I’m afraid to pray out loud. This is a real fear for many. But the fact is, you shouldn’t have to pray out loud. If you don’t want to lead out loud in prayer, just come and pray along agreeing with those who are leading. Another way to address this is to move to shorter – one or two sentence – prayers. While long ten minute prayers may be very intimidating, shorter prayers are much more manageable. When you feel ready, try a short prayer. Before you know it, you will be praying out loud regularly.

In the end, all of these are excuses. The bottom line is that God expects us to pray together. So let’s deal with our excuses, and commit to pray regularly together. Who knows what God might do!

Praying Together: God’s Expectation

On June 8, 2011March 21, 2015 By BrianIn Church Life, Habit of Prayer

God expects us to pray together. Have you ever thought in those terms? Let’s consider it together.

We’ll start with the teachings of Jesus. When Jesus gives us a pattern for prayer, he gives a pattern to pray together. What is typically called the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 uses the plural pronouns our and us throughout. We pray together, “Our Father in heaven….” Certainly we can apply it personally, but it is given as a pattern to pray together. And if Jesus gives us a pattern for praying together, we must assume he expects us to use it. He expects us to pray together.

Or consider Matthew 18:19-20:

Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

When we gather in Christ’s name, Christ is with us. As we agree about anything we ask together (again per context in his name; that is, according to his will), the Father will do it. Clearly Jesus expects us to come together for prayer.

Then, let’s consider the instructions of Paul. Paul gives numerous instructions about prayer. In our culture of rugged individualism we immediately tend to assume he is speaking of personal prayer. But we must remember that Paul is writing primarily to churches, not individuals. And the context often points to a more corporate expectation.

Take for instance Romans 12:12, where we are told to “be constant in prayer.” We might immediately privatize this exhortation, but the context of verses 3-16 reads like a manual for how the church should function together. It seems much more likely from the context, that Paul is instructing the gathered church to be constant in prayer.

Or take Romans 15:30-33:

I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

Paul is again writing to the church, to the brothers – plural. He wants them to strive together in prayer. He plans to come to them (the church, not each individual). He wants God’s peace to be with them all. While we might immediately take from this passage that I should pray for missionaries, I think Paul’s request is that we would pray together for missionaries.

Or again consider I Thessalonians 5:17 – “pray without ceasing.” We struggle with how to apply it personally. But the context, again like in Romans 12, is clearly about how the church should function together. So Paul’s main point is that we as a church should pray together without ceasing.

Finally, Paul writes to Timothy. Here he writes to an individual. But Paul is not instructing Timothy about how to live his personal Christian life. No, he is instructing Timothy about how the church to function. And so he instructs Timothy in 2:1-2 –

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

Notice – first of all. This praying together as a church is to be a priority. And not for my personal good, but for the good of the church together – that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life. And if there is any question that Paul is speaking of praying together, verse 8 removes it:

I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling.

Those last four words make clear that we are talking about praying together. We are to pray together without anger or quarreling with one another. We are to pray together with united hearts. Indeed it would be very difficult to pray together with divided hearts, so praying together regularly forces us to address any divisions among us.

From all these passages, it becomes clear that Paul expects us to pray together, just like Jesus does.

Finally, let’s consider the New Testament’s description of the church as a family. God is our Father. We are his children, and brothers and sisters together. Now what would you think if I told you that my kids play together, and come individually to me, but they never come to me together. Would that not be strange? So would it not be strange for us to fellowship with other believers, and individually come to God in prayer, but not come together in prayer? Indeed John makes this clear in I John 1:3 –

That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

We have fellowship with each other, and we have fellowship together (our fellowship) with God. And certainly this must include God’s children talking together with their Father. The picture of the church as a family points to the expectation that we will pray together.

So whether we look at the teachings of Jesus, the instructions of Paul, or the church as a family, the clear expectation is that we will pray together. Now if God expects us to do something, and we don’t do it, what is that called? It is sin, right? We don’t want to say that. It makes us uncomfortable. It means that our neglect in this area is more than a preference, it is a moral issue. If we neglect praying together, we sin against God who expects us pray together. This is serious. For those neglecting prayer together, it requires repentance – both as individuals and as local churches. We need to turn from our neglect, and recommit ourselves to gather regularly with God’s people for prayer. It means churches must get serious about that neglected prayer meeting. It means we need to start living out God’s expectation that we pray together.

Father, thank you for Jesus who died to pay for all of our sins, including our neglect to pray together. Forgive us for this sin, and change our hearts to desire what you desire. Grant us a desire to pray with your people. And may we from this day forward change to be the people you want us to be – a people that pray together to you. Amen.

Prayer Quotes To Ponder

On June 6, 2011March 21, 2015 By BrianIn Prayer Quotes

Prayerlessness is my declaration of independence from God.
– Daniel Henderson

A prayerless man is proud and independent, and any church that neglects corporate prayer is sadly no better. Only God’s humble and needy children take the time to pray. Everyone else is just going through the motions and naively trusting in their own strength!
– David Smithers

If we are not praying fervently in our churches, then we are relying on our own strength.
– Les Lofquist

The life, power, and glory of the church is prayer…. Without it, the church is lifeless and powerless.
– E. M. Bounds

Much prayer, much power. Little prayer, little power. No prayer, no power.
– Peter Deyneka, Sr.

We are too busy to pray, and so we are too busy to have power. We have a great deal of activity, but we accomplish little; many services but few conversions; much machinery, but few results.
– R.A. Torrey

Beginning with the power of the Holy Spirit that came upon the followers of Jesus as they prayed with one accord (Acts 2:1) on the day of Pentecost, the most dynamic movements of reformation and revival God has sent to His church have exploded from united prayer.
– Donald Whitney

Prayer Quotes To Ponder

On May 30, 2011March 21, 2015 By BrianIn Prayer Quotes

In our culture of rugged individualism we have come to the conclusion that it is better to pray alone than with others. Unfortunately, most of us never learn to do either one very well. Like most disciplines of the Christian faith, we learn best to pray alone when we have been taught in community.
– Daniel Henderson

Praying together provides an education in prayer for the entire church.
– Joel R. Beeke

We shall never see much change for the better in our churches in general till the prayer meeting occupies a higher place in the esteem of Christians.
– Charles Spurgeon

If congregational or small group prayer isn’t part of your Christian life, there’s a problem. Private-only prayer is not New Testament Christianity. Prayer with others from the body of believers was one of the four marks of the church in Acts 2:42. Some say they don’t pray with groups because they are too self-conscious when praying aloud with others. This verse doesn’t say they all prayed aloud, but it does mean that they prayed together. If you are unwilling to pray with others, you are too independent spiritually.
– Donald Whitney

A congregation without a prayer meeting is essentially defective in its organization, and so must be limited in its efficiency.
– J. B. Johnston

Praying regularly with others can be one of the most enriching adventures of your Christian life. Most of the great movements of God can be traced to a small group of people He called together to begin praying.
– Donald Whitney

Reflections on the Hell Issue

On March 26, 2011 By BrianIn Uncategorized3 Comments

As I have been reading about the hell controversy (see last post), I have been doing some reflecting on some of the issues related to this issue. Here are a few thoughts:

The Centrality of the Gospel

Christ’s church disagrees on a lot of issues. Even in my local church, there are different convictions on numerous things – from tithing to translations to issues of divorce and remarriage, and on the list could go. So who cares if Rob Bell has a different view about hell? Why the big fuss? The answer is the centrality of the gospel. No one is going to go to hell if they get tithing wrong. But if we get the gospel wrong, we are in a lot of trouble. The gospel is the core of what the church believes. God, Christ, and salvation, are all tied to this issue of hell – and to the gospel. As his book redefines the gospel, it is a big deal. While there is room to disagree on minor issues, we must hold fast to the basic truths of the Christian Faith as taught in the Scriptures and held by the Church for the last 2000 years.

A Passion for God and Compassion for People

I sometimes struggle with what I should include in this blog. It does after all have a theme – does this discussion even fit? I think it does. A passion for God includes a passion for his truth. And compassion for people means warning people that a bestselling author they might read will teach them things that could lead them astray. Compassion for people means not only warning of error, but then also reminding them of the truth. That is what I sought to do in the last post.

The Need to Preach Hell

As a pastor, I don’t preach hell much. Not many pastors I’ve heard do. I wonder how many Christians are simply unprepared to address this issue, to think Biblically about it because they have not been taught about it. How many might be led astray by this book because we have failed to preach an uncomfortable truth? And if we really have compassion for people, shouldn’t we warn them of the reality of hell, and the certainty that they will go there apart from Christ? Jared Wilson discusses this further, and Ligon Duncan has some suggestions on how pastors can do it.

True Humility on Hell

It is common for certain Christians to argue that humility calls us to approach our convictions tentatively, to recognize that we could be wrong, to hold nothing definitively as truth. That allows them to question everything and hold to not much of anything. But God has spoken in his Word, giving us answers, giving us truth to believe. Humility in this case requires us to bow the knee to his revelation, to hold to his truth. There is nothing particularly humble about refusing to hold firm to what God has clearly taught.

Is God or Man Primary?

It seems to me that one of our hangups on the issue of hell is this question of who is primary. If man is primary, then how dare God send us to hell! How dare God punish us! Who does he think he is? But what if God is primary? What if God made me and hence can do whatever he pleases with me? What if God is holy and we have sinned against him? What if God is glorious and our sin is a gigantic offense against his glory? What if God is just and will punish sin? If God is primary and Creator and holy and glorious and just, then hell begins to make sense. We don’t like it. It eats at our pride. It offends our attempted godhood. But we don’t have to like it. We just need to recognize that God says hell is a reality. We just need to receive Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf. We just need to give thanks to God that through Jesus we can be spared. We just need to go forth and tell others the good news that they too can find salvation in Jesus.

For further thoughts on this controversy, check out some interesting posts from Kevin DeYoung, Trevin Wax, and Tim Challies.

What Kind Of Head?

On March 14, 2011September 2, 2011 By BrianIn Church Life

And he is the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in everything he might be preeminent.
– Colossians 1:18

My wife and I attended the Church Ministries Conference in Grand Rapids this past weekend. The speaker for the general sessions was Jim Jeffery, president of Baptist Bible College and Seminary. In one session he spoke about the church as a Body with Christ as the Head. As he discussed the verse above, he asked this probing question:

Is Christ the functioning head of your church or merely a figure head?

In other words, are we seeking and submitting to his leadership, or is he merely some kind of mascot? Is he really preeminent in our church? Does his will take first place among us? Or are we running the show all the while paying him lip service?

Good questions…

Book Look: Fresh Encounters

On March 10, 2011 By BrianIn Book Look

Fresh Encounters by Daniel Henderson is an articulate and passionate call for the church to come back to corporate prayer. Henderson answers common misconceptions about corporate prayer and shows how corporate prayer is both the expectation of the New Testament and the example of the early church. Yet his call is not to some boring long-winded prayer meeting for endless requests. Rather, he maps out his vision for a more God-centered worship-based time of prayer. And he shows church leaders how to move to a greater prayer emphasis in the church, complete with numerous corporate prayer plans and ideas. Highly recommended.

Health To Serve

On March 10, 2011September 2, 2011 By BrianIn Habit of Stewardship

And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.
– Luke 4:38-39

Simon’s mother-in-law was sick, unable to serve. Then Jesus healed her, and as soon as she was well, she began to serve. She used her new health to serve Jesus.

Has God given you health in this period of your life? If so, what are you doing with it? Are you using it to serve Jesus?

Perhaps your health is limited. Are you using what health you have to serve Jesus?

Don’t waste your health. Use it to serve the Lord.

Who Needs Who?

On March 7, 2011September 2, 2011 By BrianIn Church Life, Heart

“Hear, O my people, and I will speak;
O Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.
I will not accept a bull from your house
or goats from your folds.
For every beast of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the hills,
and all that moves in the field is mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and its fullness are mine.
Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and perform your vows to the Most High,
and call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
– Psalm 50:7-15

God did not need their sacrifices. Every animal already belonged to him; indeed the entire world is his. Nor did he eat and drink their sacrifices. And if he was hungry, he didn’t need their help. God didn’t need their sacrifices.

Nor does God need us. He doesn’t need our service. He doesn’t need our ministry. He doesn’t need us at all. He can accomplish his will without us. God doesn’t need us.

But we do need him. He tells us to call upon him in the day of trouble. In the midst of the trial, the struggle, the temptation, the pain, the sickness, the loss – we are to call upon him. We need his help. And he will help us.

He doesn’t need us. We need him. He doesn’t need us, but he does want something from us. Thanksgiving. He wants us to be thankful for his help. He wants us to glorify him, honor him, praise him for all that he has done for us. In other words, he wants our hearts. He wants grateful hearts.

And grateful hearts will sacrifice and serve, not because God needs those things, but because we want to do those things. And that is what God wants – not mere actions but our wanting to sacrifice and serve in gratitude to him and for his glory.