Perhaps the saddest thing to me, is to be in a prayer meeting, where no one is praying! Well...praying out loud that is!
See, one of the ways we've 'fallen asleep', is that we've lost the idea of what it is to pray together, or pray in agreement. We need to get back to finding ways, and meetings where we can pray together! The prayer of agreement is a powerful thing. 'Where two or three are gathered' and then add to that ' one can chase a thousand, two can chase ten thousand'....Well, is it any wonder that the enemy, if he can't shut us down, wants to shut us up?!
I can identify two problems that we need to face, with regards to 'waking up 'the church to pray...and by prayer, I mean praying corporately.
First: We to learn to intercede again - discover what intercession is! One of the great movements over the last 10 years or so, has been the different revelations and teachings on 'Listening Prayer.' It has awakened in the Body, the need to hear God's voice individually. Being able to hear His voice, has enabled people to be strengthened in their individual faith and resolve, in whatever situations they are facing.
The problem with this teaching is that we've taking 'listening prayer' - which is often meditative in nature - into corporate prayer meetings. I cannot tell you the number of intercessors who are asked to attend an 'intercession' meeting, and come away frustrated because there was very little intercession ( which means to pray on behalf of others).
Second: Remember, all prayer is GOOD...but not all prayer is the SAME! > We need to remember what the meeting is for...and then pray accordingly. For instance...if the meeting is to 'hear from God' - that usually implies for the individual - so go for it. If you are asking people to come and 'hear from God' on a corporate level, that would imply 'listening' on a corporate level - not just for the individual - and then hopefully, having some kind of response to what everyone has heard for the group.
If the meeting is for intercession, that would mean praying on behalf of someone else, or a situation. Some people call this 'standing in the gap'. It's crying out on someone else's behalf! That would imply then, that we don't just listen, but that we ACT. Intercession, I believe is an interactive prayer - you and God - talking. You, taking up the cause of someone else. In order to do that...there is activity..action - it is definitely not passive prayer! I believe intercession is aggressive prayer! So,..if a meeting is called for intercession - then intercede!
Third: Teaching! We need get some teaching out there again on prayer...on the different types of prayer, on the different styles of prayer and even on the different prayer assignments that different ones can get! We need to know our own prayer styles and assignments, in order to function better and stop competing with each other in prayer meetings. We need to discern what the point of a meeting is, so that every one's prayers are focused, like a laser beam, on the target. We need to get trained! ( " He has trained my hands for battle....") We need the teachers to be released and recognized again, to start teaching . We need to BE teachable, so we can receive instruction.
Fourth: Hunger! We need to be hungry again to pray! Whatever has happened in the prayer movement over the last few years, the biggest lie that has effected us is regarding the value and worth of prayer: our prayers don't matter....my praying doesn't make a difference so I don't need to gather to pray...I'm not wanted....prayer meetings are boring! Also, apathy and discouragement has taken out many prayer warriors! We need to get hungry again for prayer. We need to pray for the gift of hunger..in ourselves, in our churches and in our cities. God make us hungry to pray. Make us hungry to assemble together again - to hear the murmur of prayer throughout our churches and cities!
Fifth: Change our idea of what a successful Prayer meeting is! .....Not all prayer people have stopped praying, but many have gone back into their prayer closets! It's time for us to 'come out of the closet, so to speak...and take up our identity again as a corporate people of prayer! We need to prayer together. We need to start gathering again to pray! I heard a wonderful 85yr. old gentleman, Jim Watt, who came to our city and shared a vision he had for prayer meetings here. He challenged us to stop thinking that a prayer meeting had to be big, to be successful. He challenged us to start seeing the value in many prayers groups, gathering throughout a city, that were made up of 4 to six people. THAT was a light bulb moment for me! Do we want ot have one large prayer meeting - where only a few will get to pray out loud, but we'll have lots of agreement? Or would it be great to have many smaller prayer meetings, where we are still praying in agreement with one another, but also we have more people speaking out their prayers! Both are great...but I think we need to see the truth about numbers! Yes, big prayer meetings are great...but many prayer meetings are also awesome! When we cancel prayer meetings because only 3 or 4 are showing up...what message is that sending to the 3 or 4 that have been faithful t come? Their prayer don't count? Or the prayer meeting is not effective because there are so few? NO!! We need to change the way we think about prayer meetings.
All prayer is GOOD....but not all prayer is the SAME!
No comments:
Post a Comment