I suspect that one way to improve the quality of GROUP prayer times is to encourage strong personal devotions.  This is based on listening to wise brothers and sisters at our morning prayer time or at leadership meetings or during worship services.  I can hear influential scripture passages in many of the prayers offered.  Phrases are pulled from God’s promises, Paul’s prayers, Jesus’ discourses, the Psalms, and many other verses into a flow of adoration, thanksgiving, and requests. 

Four things that may help build stronger personal and group prayer:  (1) Start a Bible reading time by asking God for more facility in prayer.  (2) While reading any scripture passage, look for ways to pray the words back to the God who wrote them. (3) Pray aloud in personal devotions, consciously speaking complete sentences. (4) Practice. 

Additional items added 8/27/14:

(5) Read the prayers in scripture, capturing the ideas and learning from them

(6) Memorize the words of scripture to pray them

(7) Pray with your spouse or other belivers during devotion time

(8) Sing psalms / hymns / spiritual songs and use them as prayers

 

This is the time of year when we redouble our prayer efforts for all the ministries that are re-starting for the new school year.  The Sunday evening prayer service was dedicated to discipleship opportunities for our children and youth – for the parents, Sunday school, youth groups, and other special occasions.   Tuesday morning prayer centered on a list of the start dates for some twenty-five events, trainings, retreats, conferences, and classes this fall.

The Executive Committee of the Consistory also used the ministry schedule, but focused beyond the events themselves.  We used a summary list of “mind-shifts” suggested by the excellent book The Trellis and the Vine, by Colin Marshal and Tony Payne.   Their premise is that a church needs enough administrative trellis to support all its members as vine-workers – disciple-making disciples of Jesus Christ.  But as churches age, it is easy to concentrate more on the programs (a bigger trellis) than on strengthening the vine-workers.

The ExComm list contains reminders of the importance of a discipleship mentality, and potential trellis problems to counteract:

-Running programs/events  or building/training people

-Filling gaps or training new workers

-Solving problems or helping people make progress

-Clinging to ordained ministry or developing team leadership

-Focusing on church polity or forging ministry partnerships

-Focusing on immediate pressures or aiming for long-term expansion

-Engaging in management or engaging in ministry

-Seeking church growth or desiring gospel growth

As we prayed, it was encouraging to see the number of trainings and classes with an emphasis on biblical foundations.  And it was a delight on Sunday night to see “Discipleship Opportunities” in the title in praying for the youth.

Pastor Ben led our elder meeting prayer time last week with a Bible-based, encouraging exercise.   The prayer time we spend at the beginning of the meeting inevitably pays dividends of wisdom, fellowship, and improved conversations.

The first couple of minutes were given so that everyone could pick a Bible verse he would like prayed for himself.  Then each elder shared briefly the verse and any reason for picking it with the alert to listen up because each would be praying the verse for the person on their right.

The passages ranged through the Old and New Testaments. Example verses include Colossians 3.1-2, seeking things above; Psalm 51.1-10, having a pure heart; 1 Peter 3.7, being a better husband; and Psalm 22.14, waiting for the Lord in a new job.

The prayers were sweet, covering the verses and adding requests for the brother as led.  It took about thirty minutes for our group of thirteen.

Psalm 16.6 is a wonderful reminder that God IS working great things for us. 

“The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed I have a beautiful inheritance.”

Use this concept in a small group or before a committee meeting to set the tone.  Have everyone make a list of five ways they have been blessed; ways that they KNOW the LORD has been working in their life.

Share the lists.  Turn to God in praise and thanksgiving.  Close with the Doxology.

For the last couple of years, a Congregational / Pastoral Prayer has been consistently included in our Sunday morning worship services.  The prayers are strong, rich, and long (lasting about five minutes each).  It has been another way of keeping prayer before the congregation, reminding them of prayer needs and giving examples of deep conversation with God.

The characteristics of most of the Congregational prayers include:

– Scriptural References.  Some start with a biblical call to worship or a passage used as the theme for the prayer and all have a biblical basis. 

– Promises.  The promises of God are spoken to Him with a request for our being able to see Him work them out.  We know He will keep His promises, and we delight to ask and see Him do them.

– World wide and National attention.  The church’s missionaries are mentioned by name, and God is asked for his work in current events around the globe.

– Local focus.  Nearby Bible- preaching churches are prayed for

– Congregational concerns.  Rejoicing with those who rejoice and mourning with those who mourn includes mentioning specific people by name.  Specific issues facing the church are lifted up.

– Thanksgiving, and praise.  Much is made of the Triune God and His goodness to us.

The prayers are written out ahead of time, practiced, and delivered as an act of worship.   We should consider making them into a book.

A group gets together at church every Sunday morning to pray for the day’s activities – for visitors, the worship team, the sound team, the audio team, Sunday School teachers, crucial congregational issues, and whatever else seems appropriate.

One thing we ALWAYS pray for is the preaching of the Word. The phrases in the prayers vary, but are always based on the promises of God through the scriptures:

1.The word of the Lord goes out and accomplishes what God has purposed (Isaiah 55.10-11)

2.The word of God is living and active (Hebrews 4.12)

3.The Holy spirit works in the preparations and presentation of the preacher, and the ears of the congregation (1 Corinthians 2.12)

4.The Holy Spirit convicts of sin and righteousness and judgment (John 16.8)

5.The Heavenly Father gives the Holy Spirit abundantly to those who ask (Luke 11.13)

6.The prayer of righteous men has great power as it is working (James 5.16)

We thank God for his Word, both the Bible and Jesus; we pray that the Holy Spirit would cause the preacher’s speaking and thoughts to be dynamic and powerful; we ask that the congregation would hear, understand and be able to apply; we request that those who have never heard the gospel would be convicted and believe; we pray that all the children would also hear, understand, and believe.

Every week, over and over, we claim the promises.  We all love the Lord, all have saving faith, and all understand and know the Sufficiency, Clarity, Authority, and Necessity of scripture.

And we see the promised results.  Every week the preaching is solid, understandable, convicting, and applicable.  The congregation is growing in the understanding of God. Worship times are sweet. We praise the LORD!

 

Have you ever been at a prayer meeting when the leader doesn’t show?  It is good to have something in your back pocket, a list of ideas, a set of implements in your tool box that you can pull out at such a time.  Know the times – Jump in quickly to prevent people leaving or dissolving into discussion, but be ready to relinquish control if the leader is tardy rather than absent.

Here’s a couple of simple direction that serve several purposes:  They get people talking, they start with the scriptures, they provide lots of material for prayer, and they can be communicated in less than a minute..

Depending on the size of your prayer service, you may need to break into smaller groups, but for 6-10, this works well.  Ask everyone to tell what they have been reading in the Bible recently and what they have been learning.  Then say that the group will be using all these verses to guide us in our prayers.

One morning recently we heard quick synopses of verses from Deuteronomy, Kings, Jeremiah, Nehemiah, Hebrews and the Beatitudes.  The prayer time covered, among other things, Christ –centered, Hebrews-driven praise and worship; confession of sin based on the wickedness of the Kings; beatific peace and comfort for suffering congregational members; and support and Nehemiah-like wisdom for church leaders.

Youth Director Dave at our church recruits and schedules people from the congregation for a prayer of supplication at each Sunday evening service.  For a couple of years we covered specific unreached people groups; this past year we have been praying for the missionaries our congregation supports.  This is the letter Dave sends to the praying people; it is full of helpful directions to make the prayer time worshipful:

Hello folks,

Thank you for agreeing to lead in prayer at the evening service! The prayer time is not just filler or add-on, but an important part of our gathering for worship. Hence, we want those who lead in prayer to lead thoughtfully and clearly. When your time comes close, you will get an email reminder regarding your scheduled prayer time. It is a fitting transition from praying for the top 100 highest populated unreached people groups to praying for the missionaries that URC supports. The  motivation is very similar; think of Revelation 5:9 “…And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,” and Revelation 14:6: “Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.” We have people on the ground in these nations that we support financially that it will be good to support in prayer. Thanks again so much for your willingness to do so. What a privilege to be a part of the Lord’s work! Let me give a few practical instructions that were passed along to me:

• On the night you are praying, please arrive at church by 5:45pm. This is very important! The preacher and the worship team need to connect with you before the service starts to go over any last minute details.
• The prayer takes place after the singing and before the sermon. You pray from the pulpit up front. Use the microphone there. It should be on.
• You should begin by saying something like: “My name is______ and I’ll be leading us in prayer for ____________.” If you would like to add a brief and simple word of introduction, that would be good, (e.g. briefly introducing your missionary. “We are praying for the Johnsons, who are missionaries from our church in _____. They have three girls and work as _____.” Please no more than a sentence or two). This brief introduction AND your prayer should take about 3-5 minutes.
• Almost every missionary has a prayer letter in the lobby from which you should prepare. If there is not one there, you can contact me or the office  to get more information. Please be sure to pick it up early enough!

 A few thoughts on leading in prayer:

• Remember to use “we” and not “I.” You are leading all of us in prayer.
• I’ve asked each of you specifically to pray because I have confidence in your heart for the Lord and for reaching the lost. That said, remember to keep your prayers Christ-centered and gospel centered.
• Prepare your prayer. You can write it out or use an outline or have main points in your head, but don’t get up and wing it.
• It is better to spend more time praying and less time explaining prayer requests. For example, you don’t have to say, “We should pray for the economy, the upcoming elections, and their faithfulness to the gospel.” Just jump right in and pray those prayers. Explain during your prayer if you need to.
• Be yourself. Speak in the vernacular. Don’t intone spirituality. On the other hand, avoid a lot of slang or other expressions or words that will be distracting to the rest of us who are praying with you.

Please let me know if there are any concerns or questions. Thanks everyone,

The Executive Committee of the Consistory at our church meets monthly to act for the whole consistory and deal mainly with administrative matters.  This frees the Elders and Deacons to concentrate on their pastoral and support ministries.  In some seasons, the church leaders are dealing with many HUGE issues, like a choice of denomination, a building project, a case of widespread sin in the membership. 

At such times, it is good for the ExComm to remember that even though the BIG matters are important, we need to be wise in the ministry of small things.  To that end, we opened our meeting by reading and briefly applying the following verses to our work.  Then we prayed through the agenda, praising God as the One who knows all things; asking for humble hearts; asking that we would do all things as unto Him; and being thankful that He knows what we are going through.

 Zechariah 4.8-10  Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.

 Matthew 13.31-32    He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

 Proverbs 30.24-28

                    Four things on earth are small, but they are exceedingly wise:

                    the ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer;

                    the rock badgers are a people not mighty, yet they make their homes in the cliffs;

                    the locusts have no king, yet all of them march in rank;

                    the lizard you can take in your hands, yet it is in kings’ palaces.

 Matthew 18.10 See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

 Colossians 3.16-17 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

 

This is a good passage to read and pray through when facing issue(s) beyond your control.

 2 Chronicles 20.1-12

                    After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, Engedi). Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek help from the LORD; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

                    And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, and said, “O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, ‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you—for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.’ And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy—behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

 

Talk briefly about the following pairs of questions:

   What is Jehoshaphat and company’s problem? 

   What is (are) your problem(s)?

What had God already done for the Israelites?

What has God already done for you and your congregation?

   What do the Israelites ask for?

   What would it look like for you to keep your eyes on the LORD?

 

Pray, using what you have learned.