In the 1980′s MC Hammer had a high energy hit rap song and video called, “Pray.” Repeated over and over again in this song are the words “We got to pray just to make it today.” I warn you if you listen to it even once the song will be stuck in your head and drive you crazy repeating it all day long. I’m exhausted after just watching the video on YouTube. It would make a great exercise video.
Prayer is something that we talk a lot about in our churches. It is something that just about everyone has tried at one time or another before going to bed or before a meal or in times of great stress. Some of us may even have a well established habit of a daily time alone with God where we spend time with God in prayer. It is undoubtedly essential for a healthy Christian life. We cannot grow to be more like Jesus and cannot hope to be connected to God in an intimate relationship with God without prayer. But what about corporate prayer, praying with God’s people?
In our church that I serve, Community United Methodist Church we have several opportunities to join with other sisters and brothers in Christ for prayer. On Wednesday night we have a small group of women who come together for an hour of prayer. On Sunday mornings during worship we obviously pray together. When I lead a Wednesday night bible study we take time before the study to take prayer requests and pray for each other. There is another special opportunity in our church that is a very meaningful place to pray together, our Tuesday morning Men’s Prayer Group. About 20+ men meet every Tuesday morning in our fellowship hall for breakfast, fun ribbing of each other (really mostly them picking on poor, little, ole me as the Pastor . . . although I can dish it out too), a short devotional and then prayer. I especially love this prayer group because of it’s simplicity and sincerity. Most of these men would never have prayed out loud in public before becoming a part of this prayer group but it has become a safe, non-judgmental place to simply connect with other men in prayer. We simply list on a dry erase board all the needs in our church family, their families and friends, our surrounding communities, our nation and even the needs of the world and then we just pray. Our time of prayer typically consists of the men spontaneously lifting up a prayer need that they had listed on the board. Each person’s prayer is very simple, conversational in style with some even being somewhat awkward. The prayers are short and sweet with little or no floury language and we conclude the entire time of prayer with the Lord’s Prayer. The majority of the time I leave that prayer breakfast I feel like we have met God. Usually nothing overwhelmingly profound was shared but the simplicity and sincerity of meeting with these men in prayer is very powerful.
In Scripture we see that when God’s people came together prayer was a vital part of their worship and fellowship. The infant church in Acts made prayer an essential part of their time together (Acts 2:42). Movements of God throughout church history were always connected with God’s people coming together for prayer. This is a vital piece of the health of the church worldwide, local churches, and us as individuals to not only pray privately but also to come together as the church family and touch God in prayer. It doesn’t have to be something elaborate or long but just God’s people coming together to meet God and pour our their lives together to God in prayer. It is one of the greatest places to find encouragement, strength, correction, inspiration, support, healing, and so much more to help us “make it today!”
