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Effective Corporate Prayer Meeting SIB
Metro Church Leadership Training Lesson 3 – Effective Corporate Prayer
Meeting – on 24th April 2008, Thursday Night at 8. PRAYER
- Scriptural History of prayer began with the fallen race, in all probability
associated with the first sacrifice. The first definite account of its public
observance of prayer occurred in the remarkable expression recorded in the
lifetime of Enos, the son of Seth: "Then began men to call upon the name of the
Lord" (Gen 4:26). From
that time a life of prayer evidently marked the distinction between the religious/holy
– the pious and the wicked. The habit of prayer was maintained in the
chosen family of Abraham, as is evident from frequent instances in the history
of the Hebrew patriarchs. Surprisingly, Moses, however, gave no specific
commands with reference to this part of religious service and prayer was not by
law interwoven with the public practice of worship of God among the Hebrews. The Bible is silent too whether, before
the exile, prayer was customarily joined with sacrificial offerings. In
the pagan world on the other hand, prayer is closely associated with religious service. At the beginning of the New Testament, during
the time of Jesus, it seemed clear that the priests, scribes and temple leaders
though did not perform prayer in the temple court or synagogue as a religious
service, but did prayed “standing
in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by
men”, Matt 6:5 (NKJV), and therefore did portray “prayer”
as “religious acts”. Jesus
distinctively instructed His disciples, including you and I,
Christians in the New Testament Church, that, we must not be like them. Jesus denounced such practice or
act. In Matthew 6:8 Jesus said, "Therefore do not be like them. For your
Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.” (NKJV) Did
Jesus introduce a new concept of prayer?
No, not at all. He did not introduce a new concept or a
new theology or a new manner of prayer, but he introduced, if I may put it, a
new concept of the father – child relationship. Certainly the Bible clearly states that
we are children of God, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12,13) Jesus said that none of us will come to
Him unless the Heaven Father has granted (John 6:65) He said, we have been
given to Him by the Father (John 10:29) In John 15:16, Jesus said, “you did not choose Me, but I chose you and
appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should
remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”
We are the children of God. Thus
Jesus said, “For your Father knows
the things you have need of before you ask Him.” So,
if my Father already knows what I needed even before I ask Him, why do I need
to ask Him for anything at all? In Luke
18:1, He gave a divine instruction that all men should always pray, not faint,
not lose heart, but always pray. Why
then do I need to pray? Let
us now look at this whole question of why then do I need to pray? I am now
looking at personal prayer. Of
course, the best way to learn is to learn from the Lord. In Luke 6:12, Jesus
went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. Thus, Jesus Himself prayed to the Father
God, in solitude. We too should therefore
pray to the Father. Did Jesus prayed for his personal need? He taught us that the Father knows what
we needed even before we ask Him. Why
then He need to pray? We read in John chapter 17, that He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said the prayer
recorded in John Chapter 17. Thus,
when I pray in solitude, I adopt Jesus’ prayer in Chapter 17:- From
verse 1 – 5, my eternal existence in His Will and Purpose, as agent of
the salvation and grace and mercy of God for others so that God will be
glorified in me as I glory God. From
verse 6 – 19, my existence in this world sanctified by His Word, His
Truth, to serve others, for the perfection of their faith and their salvation. From
verse 20 – 26, my desire to see the unity of the Body of Christ. Only
if I asked in this manner, my prayer shall be effective because such prayer
relates not to my own selfish need, but a desire to see God’s Glory manifest
in the lives of others, God’s power demonstrated in the lives of others,
His Kingdom reigns and His judgment triumphs over the work of darkness. His Glory shall be seen through me. Now,
if we know that this is how we individually, in solitude, pray, then we will be
able to understand the purpose of coming together in corporate prayer. But first, let us understand the meaning
of the word “pray”. In
the New Testament, Jesus simply put it as “ask”, he uses the word “pray”
and “ask” interchangeably and he more often uses the word “ask”
than “pray”. So, let us
not think of the word “pray” to mean anything more than mere “asking
God”, “asking Jesus”.
Matthew
6:9-13, Jesus was not teaching each one of us how to pray in solitude. No, He was teaching on “corporate prayer”. Jesus said, “In this manner, therefore,
pray: “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive
our debtors. And do not lead us
into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is
the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (NKJV) Remember,
Jesus decreed the disciples “DO NOT BE LIKE THEM”, because prayer
is NOT a religious act. Jesus is
instructing us to return to the beginning, when prayer first began when men to call upon the name of the Lord"
(Gen 4:26). Literally, there is
really no religious heaviness in the word “pray” or “prayer”. Jesus just simply said, “ask me”,
“ask my Father”, just ask, ask and ask. It means a call to totally and wholly seek the Father God, His Will, His Purpose, His Truth, His
Wisdom, His discernment in everything, a real sense of dependence on God for
everything, ask Him for everything, for His Glory. This
means that “asking God”, for His Grace, for His Mercy, for His
Judgment etc. is something between “God and I” or “God and
us”, something arising out of a very intimate relationship, very
personal, very secret matter. It is
between God and I, or God and us, a Father and His
child or a Father and His children. While
I pray in solitude, I seek Him for his grace, mercy and power and authority to
serve Him, to glorify Him, in corporate prayer meeting, we therefore do the
same, but the following principles are the essence of an effective prayer
meeting: (1)
Ask for the Holy Spirit to be the
intercessor between us and the Father.
Luke 11:13 “If you then,
being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your
heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" (NKJV) Rom 8:26-27, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our
weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the
Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings
which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of
the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the
will of God.” (NKJV)
While when I pray individually, I desire His Spirit to take control of my
spirit, what more when we pray corporately. One of the ways we can have a real sense
of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst in corporate prayer meeting is
when the prayer flows with the agreement of others in the hearing,
acknowledging “yes Lord”, “thank you Jesus”, “Amen”
etc…, as we flow in our prayer, we can feel the real flow with the Spirit
and thus a real sense of the Holy Spirit.
Let your prayer flows. (2)
Those
involved should be the “born-again, spirit-filled” believers. Matt
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." (NKJV) The Lord instructed us that we
should go to our closet, shut the door.
As it applies to individual, so it applies to corporate prayer meeting,
closed door meeting. (3)
Those
involve must have “faith” to believe. Matt 21:21-22, “So Jesus answered and said to them,
"Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not
only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain,
'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer,
believing, you will receive."
(NKJV) This makes the difference
between a corporate prayer meeting and a meeting ministering prayer for others. (4)
The
purpose of the prayer meeting is to glory the Father and the Son. John 14:13-14, “And whatever you ask in My
name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. (NKJV) Anything that we ask that would
glorify the Father and the Son, he will do it. (5)
Our
desire must be yielded up to God and ask according to His Word, His will, not
ours. John 15:7-8, “If you abide in
Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you
desire, and it shall be done for you.” (NKJV) Word of God will be released in
corporate prayer meeting as in individual meeting. He reveals His Word. He speaks. He answers prayers. Let us have faith to believe just that. (6)
As
the Father has committed all authority to Jesus following His triumph over (7)
He
answers secretly. Matt 6:6, “your Father who is in the secret place; and
your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” (NKJV) Ps 27:5-7 “For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He
shall set me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my
enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer
sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to
the LORD. Hear, O LORD, when I cry
with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.” (NKJV) In corporate prayer meeting, we are as
much in His secret place as each one of us is in his or her personal prayer. But one thing for sure, it is in this
secret place, in His secret dwelling in our midst, He speaks His words in
answer. He set us upon a rock,
cause our head to be lifted up above our enemies. We praise him,
we sing praises to Him in His secret places, in His Sanctuary. Thanksgiving and praise be sung to
Him. Thus praise and prayer goes
hand in hand because He answers our prayer. He speaks as we ask of Him. (8)
He
rewards us openly, Matt 6:6b “…your
Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” – by giving us lots of opportunities to testify of His Glory
through answered prayers. We
want to see the Glory of God rising upon the lost and the dying world? Let us get back to closed door corporate
prayer meeting, to cry and ask of Him for His mercy and grace and His judgment.
His Name be hallowed, His Kingdom
come upon them and His Will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The
Bible tells us, after Jesus had prayed, He returned to the people and miracles,
wonders and signs followed Him.
Lives saved, changed and ministered to with power and authority
manifesting the Glory of God. Mark
16:17-18, “And these signs will
follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak
with new tongues; they will take up
serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them;
they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." (NKJV) Would you believe that these signs will
follow US after an effective corporate prayer meeting? Ronny Cham |
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