Seven Features of a Corporate Prayer Meeting

By P. Douglas Small
President, PRAYER AT THE HEART

Spurgeon noted, “We shall never see much change for the better in our churches in general till the prayer meeting occupies a higher place in the esteem of Christians.”

There are seven things that should be featured in a corporate prayer gathering. You can understand these as movements, one following the other.

1. Start with a focus on God’s PRESENCE. Offer praise and worship. Clear away the distractions. Gaze at the Lord. This establishes an atmosphere that invites us to engage and be engaged by God in worshipful prayer.

Never start with the problems. The great crises moments in Scripture that turn to prayer always push back the presenting problem and contemplate the greatness and goodness of God.

In Babylon, miles from home, and feeling that ‘all flesh is grass and the beauty perishes,’ that any effort to return to Jerusalem would be futile, the advice of the prophet was “Get up on a high mountain and behold God.” What follows is one of the most poetic and glorious descriptions of God in the Bible. He ‘measured the waters in the palm of his hand and meted the heaven with its span’ – the universe not as wide as God’s hand; and the oceans are like a few drops of water in his palm. “He sits on the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants are like grasshoppers … the nations but a drop in the bucket … he takes up the islands, a very little thing for him to do!” This is that wonderful passage in which we are told, “Wait on the Lord, and he will renew your strength” (Isa. 40).

If the prayer meeting, at times, only went to this point, and yet all those in attendance caught a fresh vision of God in His glory – it would be a success. And without such a vision of the transcendence of God, faith languishes, praise is only a half-hearted dribble, and hope for intervention disappoints. Don’t forget to connect to the center of all this, first, his love for us, and then our love for Him, and of course, our love for others.

2. Pray the PRINCIPLES of Scripture. Choose some passage. Read it. Explain it, but only briefly – this is not a teaching meeting, it is a prayer meeting. But the Bible is our prayer book. And it is meant to be read – and prayed. So, point out two to three principles that can be used as prayer points. And pray through those principles. This is a critical component.

Here, we are praying ourselves into harmony with God’s word, and nothing gets you closer to God’s will than praying His Word. Read it; and pray it. This is transformational praying, praying to grow in Christ, to be more like Him, to be a Biblical Christian. It builds faith and character. Encourage people, bring your Bibles to the prayer meeting. This may be a directed prayer time. You may use a power point or a litany you develop to guide this (scripted, directed prayer). Or, you may have everyone find a place and give them a certain amount of time to pray through the passage (undirected, spontaneous) praying. You may have them process this in small groups. Or, have certain individuals pray out over sections of the scripture passage.

In some ways, these first two movements – His Presence and His Principles – are the heart of your prayer meeting. Get these right, and all else will rightly follow. Put these first. They anchor your prayer times. The moderate the highs and the lows.

3. Pray for the harvest. Move first into prayer for others, particularly, the lost. Here, you want to offer PERSPECTIVE for prayer. Specifically, why do we pray for nations, for closed doors, for cruel governments, for people who are the victims of disaster? From a “The Bible is our prayer book” point of view? And what is meant, by the idea, “The Bible is meant not only to be read – but to be prayed?”

With a North American perspective, generally, we have see stability and prosperity as the norm, and catastrophe and dearth as the exception. That has been changing, particularly since 9-11. Yet, we have been so blessed, due to the favor of God deriving from, at least in part, our godly heritage – that we forget that the world, including our nation, lies under the wrath of God. We have lived in a blessed bubble.

We are, or at least we were, the exception. The earth has rejected Him – and his creative claim; killed the prophets and crucified His son. On a planet filled with creatures who bear God’s image, He should be celebrated by kings and nations, and he is not. The planet is at war with God and deserving of the wrath of the Lamb. And yet, what God offers through the cross to persons and peoples is mercy!

When you pray for the world – do so, understanding that we live in a world under judgment. Calamities are normal; calm is not. Pestilence is common; plenty is exceptional. Conflict is expected; conciliation astonishes.

Pray with the big global picture in mind. Pray to be agents of peace and reconciliation in a world that is at war with God. Pray generally here – for the persecuted church, for communist regimes to topple, for the 10/40 window, for global terrorism, for the drug cartel, the growing gang culture in our own nation, the war against children and the unborn.

Make the focus of the evening a symbol of the spiritual warfare in which we live and work as people of mission in Adam’s fallen house.

4. Narrow the focus, by offering one or two examples of specific PROBLEMS or challenges to the gospel around the world. Tell a story or read a report, some news item or specific example in which people need prayer or the purposes of God are being resisted.

Pray for a nation – closed to the gospel. Pray for a people group, yet to hear the good news. Pray for a persecuted family or missionary. Make a list, and cycle through a group of nations, people groups, churches that are the target of persecution. This may include a report from a missionary your church sponsors or it may be related to the very real culture war in our own nation. Pray specifically.

5. Lace in PRAISE REPORTS. Tell stories of breakthrough. Site examples of answers to prayer. Allow one-minute thanks reports. Remind everyone that the good news story is not only to be told among us, it is to be told at the edges of the darkness. We must not keep silent about a God who answers prayer and intervenes in the lives of his children and all who call on his name.

6. Review specific PETITIONS. These may be from a prayer request box. Choose only a sampling, perhaps the most urgent and pressing. You might distribute prayer needs and have everyone hold another’s need in their hand. You can also offer suggestions of how to pray for these needs – pray in faith, pray the Scripture over them, pray with the enabling of the Spirit, pray for the will of God to be revealed and completed, pray for insight in the lives of those suffering, pray for grace to endure, pray for a spirit of praise and vitality in the midst of the problem – on and on.

7. Finally, PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER. You may do this in groups. You may have elders or prayer leaders assigned who provide special prayer. However, every prayer meeting should provide some time for the people to pray – for everyone to voice prayer. In groups of 3-5, people can express a prayer need and receive prayer. These can be powerful times of agreement in prayer and ministry. And it is in these small groups that we learn to pray – by praying! There is no other way.

There is a good news message, and in it is the power of God that saves. The world will soon face the wrath of God. We taste it even now, from time to time, and yet, our message is one of hope, out of the disposition of joy and peace, and by the power of the Holy Spirit.