No kind of classroom coaching can teach us to ride a bike or swim unless we do it. So also for praying in groups. Here are a few things I have learned from my own mistakes, so that we can make praying together more effective.
Breaking the ice
Are you frozen at the mouth at prayer meetings? If praying at a prayer meeting strikes terror in your heart, you are not alone. Many are afraid to pray in public and avoid it as much as possible. 'I can't say things as well as someone else. When I open my mouth, nothing wants to come out. What will other people around me think? What if I don't say the right things?'
Too often, what should be an experience in worship becomes a source of fear and trembling. Dismayed, we remain silent in prayer meetings, because we fail to understand the first principle about prayer. Our hearts begin to pound at the very thought of it; this is because we are more often concentrating on what we have to say than the person to whom we are talking.
Let me give you a helpful tip which has enabled me to overcome this fear. Just close your eyes and imagine Jesus is sitting next to you in an empty chair and talk to him. If you are talking to a friend, you don't have to build up every sentence before you speak, do you? Lift your voice a little bit so that others can be united in your conversation with the Lord and say 'Amen' at the end, which means 'Yes, Lord, that is my wish too.'
If the crowd is fairly large at the meeting, I imagine that Jesus is sitting next to the furthest person away from me so that all can join in with my conversation. Don't mumble in a prayer meeting, how can others then say 'Amen' and mean it? Close your eyes, but lift up your face and let your voice be horizontal.
If you are still nervous, converse with one sentence prayers; use a Bible verse if you want to; write down the sentences if you are still scared; get used to listening to your own voice. Talk to the Lord, don't shut him off from the conversation. You are talking to the living God not a dumb idol who can't hear you (1 John 5.14-15).
Prayer is sharing a conversation with the Master. This becomes easier if we have learned to talk to Jesus throughout the day. How much easier it is to talk to a friend with whom we are close, than to one to whom we have rarely spoken. And we gain more confidence to ask when we have closer fellowship with a person. Pray constantly.
Building together
The quickest way to kill a prayer meeting is for the leader to announce four items at the meeting and pray for all four at one go in the opening prayer. With prayer, we are building together, attacking the enemy together, a united front with many thrusts, each one involved in it as much as the other.
At a prayer meeting, don't just hear other people's prayers, that is passive participation. Be with one mind, and you can't do this if you are only hearing. And how easy it is for our minds to wander off if we are not praying the prayer with the person who is leading. Some people can't study unless the radio is switched on with music in the background; passive participation in background music and active involvement in the homework. Well, our prayer meeting can turn that way, passive participation in the prayer being made and active involvement in our day-dreaming. No wonder we are frozen at the mouth for prayer. Praying the prayer is the best way to learn to lead the prayer later on, which comes automatically.
It will be most helpful to bring pencil and paper so that you can note down the items as they are announced or requested. It will help you to sort out in advance the areas with which you are burdened most and write one or two words or draw a ring around it to remind you of the thought in that item when the time comes to pray. This sheet in front of you will save you time and worry from wondering what all the items were that were given earlier, and help to ensure that all the issues have been covered in prayer.
There are days when at a prayer meeting I wanted to pray for an item when somebody jumped the gun before me and I would then think: 'Ah!' and concentrate on another item. Immediately another would steal my show and my prayer time would end up in a continuous string of 'oohs and ahs'. Then I learned the lesson that when I think of an item and someone else beats me to it, it is an indication that we are united in the same thought and request, and God may be helping to give us that extra confidence by joining our thoughts. When this happens to you, rejoice. Let it be an incentive to join others' thoughts and words with more confidence, because God is sealing that prayer as a united front. Does it matter who leads that prayer? There is no extra reward for the spokesman at the end of it all, is there? You can say: 'Thank you Lord, for putting the same concern in more than one of us.' We are building together and each of us is as much a part of it as the other (Acts 1.14).
Keep it short - Matthew 6.7
The maximum duration any average human being can concentrate on a subject continuously in prayer with one accord is about one minute. That is why the Anglican Collects are delightfully of one minute duration. If anyone makes his prayer more than this, my mind begins to wander away into the strangest of scenes and you have lost the unity of prayer.
The effective way of praying for a topic at a prayer meeting is for one person to ask God some aspect of the topic that has burdened his heart and another person to take up unitedly building your request as the Spirit leads you. If someone prays for another subject when you haven't finished the topic under consideration, no harm is done, you can still come back to it later. Have it written on the paper in front of you. This helps everyone to take part in the prayer and make it wonderfully rich. Nothing kills a prayer meeting stone dead more than the same old three saints praying all the time. It also helps us from heaping empty phrases to add beauty and colour to our prayer. The cobwebs of my heart can be swept away by killing the spider. And some of us can go on and on, can't we? It can also help the leader not to have to announce a hymn while our brother finishes his lamentation.
Be honest
Don't copy other people's prayers unless you can make the words come from the emotions of your heart. If not, the prayer meeting will end up as a dramatic performance.
Our prayers should be honest. We don't have to pretend with the Lord. He knows our hearts more than we do. No point in telling him: 'Lord, I love you', when we don't feel that in our hearts - that is pretending. Instead you can say: 'I don't feel the love I should have. Pour your love into my heart that I may truly love you.'
Be honest in your prayer. Don't say thank you to him when you don't feel thankful. Instead ask him to create in you a thankful heart. Be honest. You are having a conversation. Let us listen to the Lord too as we pray and know his will and seek his mind.
Vijay will conclude this article on the prayer meeting next month.
Vijay Menon
Home
Archives
Subscriptions
Adverts
Find a church
About us
Contact us
Site Map
Printable