“When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God…” (Acts 4:24).
“After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the world of God boldly” (Acts 4:31).
“…he (Peter) went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying” (Acts 12:12).
When Christians get serious about praying together, God gets serious about answering their prayers. But unfortunately, we often see prayer as mostly an individual discipline rather than a communal one. When we do pray collectively, it is usually a random isolated moment or a formal way to begin and end our worship hour on Sundays. But what if we saw congregational praying as vital to the spiritual health of churches and the growth of God’s kingdom? What if we dedicated as much time to communal praying as preaching, singing hymns and the Lord’s supper on a Sunday? What if we scheduled more mid-week prayer sessions rather than just Bible study classes? What if we spent more time with other Christians praying rather than just catching up? Perhaps we would discover that we are far more in tune with the Spirit and His workings. Maybe we would find ourselves having greater boldness in Christ and witnessing a more significant response to the gospel. We might even notice new life breathed into the movement of Christ. If this is the case, why not advocate for more communal praying within your congregation? And, why not meet up with other Christians and pray together with intention, oneness and confident expectation that God will answer your communal prayers?
