Meeting Together and Praying

As a young man, my family went to church every time the doors were open. If there was a prayer meeting we were present and praying, at church or in homes, the place was not important to my parents. We also had family prayer and devotions. My mother and father prayed more than anyone I knew. There was something very powerful about coming together however and praying.

"They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus." Acts 1:14
Another passage that has been so meaningful is that of James 5:18
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
NKJV

In the NT, James was a converted, skeptical relative of Jesus. What a testimony that is to the transforming resurrection power of Jesus Christ, and to the power of prayer. I believe Jesus prayed for His family, and we ought to pray for our families. You can do something in prayer that you can't do when you are with your family in person. When you're there, you can say things and they'll quit hearing what you're saying because they don't want to hear it; but they can't stop what you pray! They can stop you from saying things, but they can't stop you from praying things. You can begin to pray, "Lord, I pray for my Aunt, Uncle, Son, Daughter, Grandchild (fill in the blank calling out their names), and I ask You, Lord, to give them a sudden desire for You." Prayer is a wonderful opportunity, anyone can do it. To pray you don’t need money, or a specific training or skill. As a missionary I tell people they don’t need an airline ticket, a passport or a visa to pray. You can enter King’s palaces, seats of governments and nations that others cannot go.

In the days of watching war being shown on the news we saw what was called precision bombing. It's a lot like what you would see if you were watching a bombing run or missile attack. You would watch the missiles being launched from a submarine hundreds of miles from the target in the middle of the sea. There can be three houses standing in a row with the middle house being the target, and the bomb will hit precisely the middle house. It is even designed so that the surrounding houses aren't harmed!

Prayer destroys spiritual strongholds that the enemy has in people's lives. The enemy has his bunker, and he's hunkered down in there terrorizing people... and then we start praying. "Lord, they're held captive by the enemy.” “Lord, would You please bring them to the place that they desire You?" The bomb's been launched, it hits its target, and your relatives don't even know what happened. God happened! The Lord happened! They think, "Why do I keep thinking about the Lord? Why do I think I might need Him? I need a Bible!" Wow! You've just got to pray and not stop. Prayer and intercession makes the difference.

When you have a couple of people praying with you (where two or three are gathered), you know what that does? Jesus says that He wants us to agree in prayer. Get several missiles launched, and see what prayer does. You see, God has chosen to work with us in prayer for the salvation of people. Use your weapons! Use your spiritual weapons.
In these last weeks of itenration, I have been so aware of the people in the pew not joining with God in His Mission, that none would perish, Go into all the world, Go make disciples of all nations and other instructions of our Lord. Our lives, our churches and our movement need to be on mission. Prayer is a vital part of this.

Verse of personal challenge:
Psalm 19, verses 1-3, "The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard."