A Prayerful Church
These Vision Gatherings are an opportunity to dig a little bit more into what will be our central commitments of Providence Presbyterian Church. In case you missed it, you can read the notes from our first Vision Gathering on being A Word-Saturated Church here.
What happened to spiritual disciplines? Why don’t we emphasize the importance of corporate worship, cultivating a life of prayer, pursuing holiness, anymore? It certainly seems that these things are not frequently talked about in churches.
Are Christians afraid of the word 'discipline' because it carries a connotation of legalism? But spiritual disciplines are expressions of love and gratitude for the grace you’ve received through Christ. It’s not because daily Bible reading merits you any favor before a Holy God.
Cultivating a life of prayer seems to be one of those neglected spiritual disciplines.
I’m not a betting man, but I bet all of us would be quickly shamed if someone followed us around and tracked our prayer lives. Including me. Cultivating a life of prayer is hard.
Have you ever wondered why prayer is so hard? There doesn’t seem to be a great answer to that question, yet most believers would admit that it’s true.
Jesus said, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” in response to the disciples inability to stay awake and pray with him in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt. 26:41).
We understand that prayer is important. We know that it’s something that God wants us to do, and yet, we have a hard time doing it. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Prayer is difficult because it’s such a visceral reminder of our total dependence on God. Everything we have is a gift from the hand of God.
Isn’t that what we’re doing when we pray? On the one hand acknowledging our own weakness but on the other hand recognizing the sovereignty of God? That’s what we do when we pray for healing, our family, the salvation of those around us, thank Him for our food… and the list could go on.
We’re acknowledging the fact that we have no control over anything! But we pray to a Sovereign Creator who does have control over all things.
Why are churches prayerless?
This isn’t earth shattering news. In fact, most evangelical churches would probably agree that prayer is often overlooked. And yet so many churches are prayerless! Could the fact that it’s not a point of emphasis on Sunday be the cause?
A church’s values are communicated through their worship service. A church that offers one thirty-second prayer right before the sermon and another thirty-second prayer at the end of their service doesn’t have the right to criticize their prayerless congregation.
In a subtle way, they’re minimizing prayer. After all, if your church doesn’t value prayer, why should you?
Prayer just isn’t a popular aspect of the Christian life. Private prayer should be cultivated in secret and corporate prayer can at times feel awkward and uncomfortable. It’s hard to get folks excited about prayer.
Should we be surprised that only 31% of professing Christians say they pray “multiple times a day?” That 17% say they pray “once per day?” Or worst of all, 17% say they “never pray?”
And yet, prayer is something that comes up over and over again in the Bible. So many of the Psalms are prayers or focus on prayer.
Take Psalm 4 for example: “Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!”
And to take it one step further, can you think of a passage that discourages prayer? Is there an example of someone praying to God when they shouldn’t? Sure, Jesus corrects the Pharisees' reasoning for praying, not the fact that they were praying. Because they wanted people to see them as super spiritual. They wanted to be seen by others.
Prayer is always encouraged in every situation and circumstance. In fact, we’re encouraged to “Pray without ceasing!”
We’re supposed to be in constant conversation with God! It’s what he wants.
The Importance of Corporate Prayer
But James tells us that, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (Jam. 5:16 KJV) According to James, our prayers do in fact, “availeth much.”
So why is the Wednesday night prayer meeting all but dead? Do we no longer believe there is power in prayer? There is power in prayer, and there is power in corporate prayer.
Corporate prayer provides missional clarity.
Clarity comes through prayer. Sometimes our minds get foggy and we forget what really matters.
This is true for each of us privately, but I think the same is true for the church as well. We lose sight of the mission and what our initial goals are. The Great Commission gets crowded out by other priorities. Suddenly discipleship takes a back seat to a bigger building or hiring more staff.
But prayer refocuses that. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed and had his sacrificial mission reinforced. God uses prayer to align our hearts to His will. It’s through spending time in prayer the things that matter to God begin to matter more to you.
And that’s exactly why corporate prayer must be central to Providence. Prayer will keep us focused on God’s mission for the church.
Corporate prayer is edifying and encouraging.
Secondly, prayer is simply edifying and encouraging. In a similar way, hearing someone pray for the Lord to meet spiritual needs is edifying. It’s always encouraging when someone prays for something that you’re going through. Lifting up the things that are on our hearts and minds unifies the church. It can only bring us into a deeper communion with one another and God.
Corporate prayer anticipates a response from God.
Lastly, corporate prayer, but really all prayer, anticipates a response from God. When you pray you begin to look for what God is doing. Corporate prayer forces you to look at what’s going around you through a spiritual lens. Shouldn’t the central question to what happens in the life of a church is: What is God doing? Where is the Lord at work? Corporate prayer puts all of us on red alert for the movement of the Holy Spirit.
The content of our prayers
This should frame what we pray for. But so often corporate prayer can devolve into talking about minor medical issues and praying for people we have little to no connection with. If you’re not careful you can wind up praying for Grandma’s bunion or a Facebook friend’s neighbor’s unemployed cousin.
I’m obviously joking, and I don’t want to come across as insensitive, but sometimes we miss the forest through the trees in prayer. We’re praying for atheist Grandma’s bunion but we’re not praying for her eternal soul. We’re praying for the Facebook friend’s neighbor’s cousin, but we’re not praying for the children in our church! That’s a tragedy!
We don’t want that to be the case with Providence. If prayer is going to be a conviction for our church, then we need to commit ourselves to praying for things that matter.
That doesn’t mean minor medical issues are of no importance or that you’re not allowed to pray for your personal desires. Rather we must prioritize spiritual needs and above all, be willing to accept the will of God even if it means He isn’t going to answer your prayer in the timing or manner in which you hoped.
Prayer helps conform our will to God’s will. And that is one of the most beautiful aspects of prayer - what it does for us. The more you pray the more you’re going to want what God wants. The Lord uses prayer to conform your desires to His will.
That’s how Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” and why Westminster Shorter Catechism defines prayer as:
“... an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.”
If we want our desires to conform to God’s will, we need to confess our sin and always be reticent to acknowledge the grace and mercy we’ve been given in Christ.
We should, to the best of our abilities, try to pray in this way, but it’s also helpful to follow a structure or format for your prayers, like the Lord’s Prayer, ACTS, or Matthew Henry’s “Method for Prayer.” There is no prescribed way to pray, even Jesus’ instructions prior to the Lord’s Prayer was to, “Pray then like this.” (Matt. 6:9) There is so much to be gleaned about prayer from the Lord’s Prayer. But there are other helpful guides as well.
I like ACTS which is an acronym for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.
You offer adoration to God, confess your sin to Him, offer you thanks to the Lord, and then make your supplications, or petitions and requests last. It’s just a helpful way to structure your prayers.
Matthew Henry has a booklet called “Method of Prayer.” It’s very accessible. But he gives helpful directions for praying through God’s Word and categories for the content of your prayers as well.
Cultivating Genuine Corporate Prayer
Prayer is a central component to the Christian faith. In prayer, through Christ, we commune with the living God. We all must see the importance of prayer and seek to instill it into the life of Providence. As a church we must seek God in all things.
Prayer is counter-cultural. The American dream is one of self-actualization, self-sufficiency, and radical independence.
But prayer is a glorious reminder of our dependence on God. Everything we have is a gift from the hand of God. Prayer is humbling because it’s a reminder of your inadequacy, weakness, and insufficiency apart from the Lord.
But isn’t that the reminder we all need? That you’re a recipient of God’s grace?
How are we going to prioritize prayer at Providence
Prayer will be infused into every aspect of Providence. It will be on display through the pastoral prayer within the worship service. The pastoral prayer is an extended time of prayer offered by one of the elders in the middle of the worship service. An extended time of prayer communicates that we believe prayer is an important aspect of worship.
Eventually, Wednesday nights will be a time for focused, guided prayer together as a church body. And of course, we’ll encourage prayer in private times together, Sunday School, and Bible studies. Prayer needs to be ingrained into the DNA of Providence.
A House of Prayer
My prayer is that Providence will be a church that really values prayer. Isaiah 56:6-7 says,
“And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant — these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
Isn’t that what we want? For Providence Presbyterian Church to be a house of prayer?
Prayer is an essential component to the Christian life. It’s not something that we should neglect. Rather it’s something we should emphasize and celebrate. After all, we have the privilege of praying to the living God who hears our prayers! And we get to share this privilege with one another!
The Bible is serious about prayer. So as a church we should double and triple down on the things that the Bible takes seriously.
We don’t have a lot of options because we’re not in control. But we have access to the One who is. We must rely on God. This is true for all of us personally, and may it be true for Providence Presbyterian Church as well.
