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By Jonathan Graf
I’m often struck by something odd in the prayers of Old Testament intercessors. Many times, when faced with a difficult situation, when they went to prayer they didn’t pray much about the problem. Their focus was upward rather than outward.
We never see Nehemiah pray about the wall, Jeremiah only in passing mentions the Babylonian onslaught, and David often changes his attitude mid-pray. Why? In many of their prayers, they simply focused on who God was, what He had done in the past. As they did this, everything around them faded away into unimportance. God would be faithful as He always had been.
While
they couldn’t articulate this, I am positive one of the primary reasons
most people do not participate in all-church prayer meetings is because
they do not sense a connection to God while there. They are bored with
praying for needs and situations that they will never know the outcome
of. At most prayer meetings the focus of the prayer is on circumstances
- not on God. A
number of churches today are finding that providing a more dynamic,
God-focused prayer meeting will bring people. The Brooklyn Tabernacle
has known this for years—it’s one of the reasons it draws 2,000 plus to
its Tuesday night prayer meeting. Grace Church in
Eden Prairie, MN
,
is pastored by Dr. Daniel Henderson—a man who lives and breathes the
importance of corporate prayer. Their Sunday night “Fresh Encounter”
prayer meeting, which focuses on worship and the attributes of God, is
largely responsible for changing the entire atmosphere of the church.
People are flocking to it—from area-wide churches, not just
Grace—because they sense the presence of God there. King of Kings Church in
Manahawkin, NJ
believes one of the reasons God is blessing it with life, is its vibrant, God-focused, Thursday night prayer meeting.
Of
course you shouldn’t stop praying for needs in the life of the church.
But find additional creative ways to focus your corporate prayer
meeting (if you have one). Seek out ways to encourage more people to
pray through a list of needs (offered in the bulletin, or emailed to
church members each week). Make sure small groups are praying for each
other and prayer chains are functioning well. Offer a time for leaders
and trained prayer teams to pray for people’s needs during a Sunday
morning worship service. Positioning teams around the sanctuary at a
set time in your musical worship part of the service works well; or at
the end of the service.
Continually
change the focus of your prayer meeting! Weave worship—with songs that
are all focused on exalting Jesus Christ or on God’s
attributes—throughout the prayer meeting. Have set times of prayer in
groups, but around a theme that a leader gives to the people—no prayer
requests! Then, when you have had a few prayer meetings under your
belts, try something bold to get people to come. Without warning people
that it’s coming, turn one Sunday morning worship service into a
God-focused, worship-based prayer meeting. At the end, tell people that
they have just experienced the new format of our Wednesday (Thursday or
whatever) night prayer meeting. If they want to keep meeting God in
that way, come to the weekly prayer meeting.
For help on how to develop this kind of prayer meeting, purchase
Henderson
’s book, Fresh Encounters: Experiencing Transformation through United Worship-Based Prayer (NavPress 2004). If you are interested in how to lead a powerful corporate prayer meeting, read John Franklin’s God-focused how-to book, And the Place was Shaken (How to Lead a Powerful Prayer Meeting). Both of these dynamic resources are available in Harvest Prayer Ministries’ online bookstore: http://www.prayershop.org.
Jonathan
Graf is a Vice President of Harvest Prayer Ministries and is the
president of CPLN (Church Prayer Leaders Network). He is available to
put on a prayer conference at your church. Contact him at:
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