Spiritual and numerical growth for churches has been under the magnifying glass for many years. There have been multiple strategies put forward to remedy the struggles and deficiencies associated with drawing people to Jesus and His Church…and then growing them into fully committed disciples of Jesus. However,  all one needs to do is study the book of Acts to find God’s solution:  kingdom-focused corporate prayer.

After Jesus ascended into heaven, 120 believers obediently met in an upper room to pray as their Lord had instructed them to do: “These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers” (Acts 1:14). This group of believers took Jesus at His word and waited prayerfully for the Holy Spirit that had been promised to them. The result, it was said, “turned the world upside-down for Jesus Christ” (Acts 5:28). Following the model in Acts, let’s see how kingdom-focused corporate prayer is the blueprint for church growth today:

1. The Church must be devoted to praying with one another in one acccord: On the day of Pentecost, several weeks after Jesus’ resurrection, the 120 believers were still meeting together in one place…we must assume from Acts 1:14 that they were still in prayer. The promised Holy Spirit came – as Jesus had told them: “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven” (Luke 24:49). The early disciples were committed to united, corporate prayer for the sake of the kingdom. As leaders, they were at the forefront of leading this movement of prayer as instructed by Jesus.

2. Leaders need to understand that prayer and the ministry of the word is their first priority: During a time when they could have been lured into other activity, the leaders of the Jerusalem Church said, “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). This is a very simple and straightforward job description for church leadership, yet, over time, its simplicity has been perverted by worldly expectations and business models. Training in Bible colleges and seminaries has reduced prayer to a devotional silo expected of every believer and therefore not deemed worthy of academic study or as the foundational strategy for guiding a church or completing the Great Commission.

3. Prayer must be the priority as leaders make decisions: Here are two decisions that illustrate this point clearly: First, as described in Acts 1:21-26, Peter shared that the Scripture needed to be fulfilled and a new apostle needed to be chosen to take the place of Judas. After nominating two men, “… they all prayed for the right man to be chosen. ‘O Lord,’ they said, ‘you know every heart. Show us which of these men you have chosen as an apostle to replace Judas…’”  Following prayer, they cast lots and Matthias was chosen to be the 12th disciple.

Another decision came in the midst of prayer: “While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away” (Acts 13:2-3). 

Neither of these decisions was made by a committee or after long discussions – they were made following or in the midst of corporate prayer by the leaders.

4. Preaching of the Word is prayer-empowered: In the midst of the activity of the Holy Spirit, the prayed up and prayed for unlikely preacher, Peter, stood up and boldly proclaimed the Truth of Jesus Christ, and those who received that word were baptized. God added three thousand souls to the Jerusalem church on Pentecost. This would have been impossible if Peter had preached in his own strength and power rather than through the power of the Word of God, and after much prayer.

5. God’s people live lives devoted to the ways of Jesus Christ: “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” (Acts 2:42). As this lifestyle of Jesus was lived out “with gladness and sincerity of heart” (Acts 2:46), “…the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). Praying communities of believers see God do amazing things for God.

The bottom line is that praying leaders will multiply praying churches filled with praying disciples! People follow leaders who follow Jesus. Prayer should be the foundational lifestyle for the Church of Jesus Christ.

(c) Harvest Prayer Ministries

“When you are able to create a lonely place in the middle of your actions and concerns, your successes and failures slowly can lose some of their power over you.” ~ Henri Nouwen, Out of Solitude

Jesus would regularly separate Himself from the crowds, and even from the disciples, to go off to a lonely, quiet place to pray. It was in the place of solitude where Jesus met with His Father in deepest intimacy so that the everyday work of the kingdom could unfold as God desired. Whenever I allow myself to follow His example, I often come away recognizing that my worth to God is not the same as my usefulness to Him. This is crucial to my well-being, for I am better able to see myself through my Father’s eyes rather than allowing myself to strive for acceptance and value based on my ministry activity.

In silence, He cares for my soul in a way that I can be attentive to in the moment. When I am in the midst of everyday activity, I can usually only look back reflectively to notice His involvement in my life. Over the past few years, I have been praying, meditating and actively moving towards God’s transformative activity in my life moment by moment. Stopping to pay attention and pray in the midst of busyness as well as in the quiet, reflective moments have allowed me to practice His presence and welcome His nearness and care in everything…from the most mundane task or thought to the moments when I feel the most pleasure or the most accomplished. He is there – always. He has promised to be. I have started to be keenly aware that God’s life in me can only be reflected by how I live out His kingdom life in the world. The health of this activity is directly related to my life of prayer.

So much of my time is a torrent of frenzied activity and urgency. My expectations of myself far exceed the expectations of God. He simply calls me to live like Jesus. I challenge myself to live out Jesus on steroids – an impossibility that is actually counterproductive and paradoxical. Jesus lived simply in a way that demonstrated the intricate dance between activity and holiness – doing and being. Solitude – being still with God alone…is the way I can be more attentive to His presence in the midst of all of life. Yet, if I never stop long enough to have seasons where I can feel the gaze of God upon me, I can’t make course-corrections or learn how to feel His pleasure with me when I am in stressful or busy situations.

One story in Scripture that punctuates all of this for me is when Jesus healed the man sitting by the Pool of Bethesda. Jesus, we must surmise from His own narrative in Scripture, chose, at the direction of the Father, one person to heal. One. Out of the many who were anxiously, hopefully waiting for healing, Jesus asked one man if he wished to get well…and didn’t use the waters of the pool to do so. Then, with dozens more sick and ailing all around Him, Jesus moved on without healing any others. Why? Because He wasn’t interested in garnering points with the population for His amazing healing powers through healing as many people as He possibly could. His focus was upon glorifying God through obediently healing the one He had been instructed to heal.

The challenge for me…and for all of us, is to seek God, as Jesus often did, in the silent moments of solitude so that we may be able to better hear His voice when He instructs us throughout our day. Perhaps, as Nouwen stated, we will then be able to create those “lonely places” even in the midst of busyness and distractions where our “successes and failures” fade away into the obedient kingdom activity of Jesus.

Here are three spiritual goals to challenge you in your relationship with God:

1. To be more aware of God’s continual nearness no matter what activity you may be engaged in or what time of day it is…and to continually recognize that everything is not dependent upon me, but upon Him!

2. To recognize and internalize that simply to be in His presence, without “doing” anything…is enough.

3. To spend more time in silence and solitude listening to the “still small voice” of God and enjoying His company.

A few years ago, a dear friend went through a major health challenge. She walked through a lot of darkness and difficulty. Yet, in the midst of her struggle, she said to me, “I would not have chosen to miss going through every bit of this struggle because of all God did in and through me.” Knowing how much she had suffered physically, mentally and financially through an intensely dark time, this gift of grace to her was supernaturally significant! We had been praying together (along with many others), that God would receive honor and glory in her victory…and indeed He has! She was able to lead two people to the Lord, including a Jewish woman…and helped another person with a personal struggle of his own. Focusing upon the needs of others had pulled her from her anxiety over her own condition towards the kingdom purpose of God – which was to redeem her situation for His own glory.

I share this to say…prayer isn’t always about the end result…but also about the journey. It is, as the Apostle Paul says, being able to be content in whatever circumstance we find ourselves in (Philippians 4:11). Author, Jonathan Graf, calls this “praying the process.” If we focus on the end result only, we often miss the blessings, lessons, growth that comes from the process of walking through the situation. It is often the process of going through trouble or adversity that strengthens us for kingdom work. As a friend of my says it, “When you can’t see His hand, trust His heart!”

The Apostle Paul said in Romans 5:3-5: “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love” (NLT).

God loves us enough to allow trials in our lives for His purposes. As we “pray the process” we can ask God to work in and through us rather than bemoaning our circumstances. God is a redeemer and will not let anything we walk through be wasted. And, in the midst of our situations, we are always to be thankful: “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). This is harder than it sounds! How can we be thankful for illness, tragedy, etc.? Go back to Romans 5 – when we run into the tough things of life, God has a purpose to use it for His glory…even if we can’t comprehend, imagine or see it. This is where the true prayer of faith takes place. When we begin to pray through the journey (process) of our situations, God is there, walking with us. He hurts alongside of us, sees and feels our pain, knows our frustrations…none of it is a surprise to Him.

Sometimes we have no idea what or how to pray in the midst of a difficult circumstance. But, Paul gives us this amazing encouragement in Romans 8:26: “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words” (NLT).

So – in a nutshell, here are some guidelines, based on the Scriptures we just read, to help you pray through the dark, uncertain times in life:

• Pray the process – don’t just ask God for the end result you want…trust God’s heart even when you don’t see Him at work in, through or around you. Know that He is able to overcome and/or redeem whatever you go through.
• Focus on praying for (and with) others who are going through trials as you are. God will use your circumstances to uniquely encourage or strengthen someone else.
• Ask God to give you the spiritual eyes to see His kingdom through your situation.
• Rejoice and give thanks in the midst of trials, knowing that He has a purpose for them that will be for His ultimate glory.
• Pray for greater faith to know that God’s hand is at work to develop endurance, strong character and the hope of salvation within you.
• Ask God to help you to be content in the midst of whatever situation or circumstance you find yourself.
• Ultimately, when you don’t know what else to do or pray, ask the Holy Spirit to share your heart with the Father.

May God bring your prayer life sharply into focus in the midst of trials so that God is glorified as His will for His kingdom is fulfilled in and through you.

I work with many leadership teams, including pastors, prayer ministry teams, missions teams, etc. about hearing from God together for next steps…for decision-making and roadmaps into the future of kingdom work, etc. Of course, without each individual practicing the spiritual discipline of listening prayer first, the corporate exercise of listening cannot be fully realized. Lisa Swanson has defined listening prayer as “the practice of the Presence of God under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”The Apostle John fully understood the importance of listening prayer. It would follow that the one whom Jesus loved was the one who was most in tune with His divine heartbeat. John listened to the words of Jesus as He described on multiple occasions how He discerned what to teach, say and do from the Father, just as we are to also hear from, and respond to the voice of the Father and the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit:

In John 7:16, Jesus says, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.” This was in response to the questions of the Jews, amazed at the profound teachings of Jesus, who had not been formally educated.

In John 5:19 we read: “Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.’” Seeing with the eyes of the Spirit can only be done when one spends time in silence and solitude before God. Jesus and the Father were in continual communication as Jesus moved through His days on earth, carefully representing the perfect will of God.

John also described how we, His people, are to listen so that we will be able to easily identify the voice of Jesus: “The shepherd walks right up to the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice. They won’t follow a stranger’s voice but will scatter because they aren’t used to the sound of it” (John 10:3-5). This passage clearly shows how we can easily be led astray or confused if we do not take time to know the voice of our Shepherd.

Based on these Scriptures and others, we can assume that Jesus never acted independently of His Father and that His example should teach us how to relate more fully to God. Listening prayer will keep us in a posture of humility before God which will protect us from acting out of our own selfish desires. It enables us to be willing to lay down our own plans and preferences in favor of God’s kingdom purposes. The difficulty? It takes time to listen. The benefit? There is much fruit that springs from listening prayer. When we are willing to give up our agenda for the sake of His plans, He is pleased to move in and through us to accomplish His work. Most of all, the deepening of our relationship with God happens when prayer is not just words on our part. He is able to transform us when are in a posture of listening, of seeking, of desiring more of Himself and the revelation of His character.

Simple Instructions for Listening:

1. Find a quiet space where you will not be disturbed.
2. If necessary to keep your focus, light a candle to represent the presence of the Holy Spirit, or put a picture of Jesus, the cross, or whatever will represent the One to Whom you are listening. If your thoughts begin to wander use these visuals to keep your attention on the Father.
3. Simply pray as Samuel was instructed to do: “Speak Lord, for Your servant is listening.”
4. Don’t have grand expectations as to what you will hear ahead of time. Come simply to be in His presence, loving and being loved.
5. Keep a journal and a pen handy in case there is something that needs to be recorded.

This process can also be done corporately! However, if each individual does not willingly submit to Christ through listening, unity in decision-making and reaching consensus and/or compromise is much harder to achieve. The spiritual discipline of listening prayer is not an easy one, but it will eventually bear the kind of fruit that will change you, your team(s) and your church in such significant ways that the world will know that God sent His Son for our sakes.

Sometimes God just puts things into perspective and smacks me upside the head! I was struggling to write this blog today…nothing was coming to mind, even as I prayed and searched the Scriptures for a jump start. I was beginning to get frustrated and was feeling a bit sorry for myself. And then – God intervened! A phone call came into the office from a desperate woman whose son has been missing for two days. She was weeping from fear and grief over not knowing where he was or if he was okay. Simply – she just needed someone to pray with her.

Usually I ask all kinds of questions to get more information so I can pray an informed prayer. But today, all I asked her was for her name and the name of her son…and I went before the throne of the Almighty Father, who loves her son more than she could ever imagine loving him. He allowed my mother’s heart to resonate with hers in that moment, trusting Him for the right words to comfort and strengthen her. When we were done, she thanked me, I said I would keep praying for her today, and she hung up. Was she filled with peace? Did she sense that the Lord was watching over her son? Did I even pray in a way that opened her up to the possibility that God is able to bring him home safe and sound? How will God respond to this prayer? I will likely never know this side of heaven – but I believe that our loving Father is already sending ministering angels to this woman’s side, and trusting that her son will come home.

So – in the midst my little feeling sorry for myself hissy fit this afternoon, God brought me into the reality of real life and used me for His purposes in an entirely different way to minister to a hurting person…without knowing circumstances or details…just simply trusting that He knows what is needed in this moment of time and will pour out His grace and mercy in response. It was a divine appointment between one mother and another. Thanks Father, You knew just what I needed today too.