Thursday, July 30, 2009

Good ol' Fashion Prayer Meetin'

Have you ever been a part of a church or group whose sole purpose was to pray together? You know, a group of folks meeting weekly to spend an hour or two praying globally, nationally, locally and personally. It is very powerful and moving. Prayer is a vital connection to God, tapping into His love, power and blessing.

If you don't have a prayer group, start one. Invite other Christians over to pray. Be sure to have some folks outside your denomination and just for fun, throw in a Charismatic or two, just to keep it lively.

Here is some exercises for prayer meetin' fun:

1. Draw names out of a hat to pray for, each individual praying 5 minutes for that person.
2. Spend the entire time praying for one person (like the president, your pastor, someone sick, etc.)
3. Lay hands on someone and pray over them.
4. Divide up in smaller groups of 3 or 4 and pray for each person's concerns specifically.
5. Invite someone in to pray over them...like a sick person, discouraged or a pastor.
6. Write down prayers and give them to the person for whom you were praying.
7. Sing your prayers as a group.
8. Pray the Scripture together.
9. Pray while praise and worship music is going on in the back ground.
10. Pray the Scriptures together.
11. Pray the prayer of agreement together.
12. Pray where everyone is praying out loud at the same time (prayer concert).
13. Pray over the phone together during the week.
14. Take a weekend once a year and pray and fast the entire weekend (48 hours straight).
15. Fast for a day or two before the prayer meeting...have a meal after the meeting.

Get creative. Just create a weekly time to meet with other Christians for the sole purpose of prayer. Do it as an alternative to Bible class or small group meeting. Try it, God will like it!

3 comments:

  1. Our church has a Wednesday evening prayer meeting instead of Bible classes. We started it after one of our ministers read a book by Jim Cymbala about how prayer had shaped the Brooklyn Tabernacle. Unfortunately, our son is too young to get into it. We visit other congregations on Wednesdays right now, but as he grows older, we will probably return to the Wednesday night prayer meetings at our regular church.

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  2. That's cool. I have been a part of a prayer group for 5 years...I can't do without for more than a month before I go through "prayer withdrawals." Sometimes kids might surprise you about getting something from a prayer meeting. My kids love it.

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  3. I need to be more purposeful in praying over the phone. I have been so blessed when I have done that in the past. Good reminder! I tend to pray better over Facebook. I love to be able to really write a prayer that is more meaningful than I feel my words are at times. I need to practice praying on the fly? if I can actually say that. There is more chance of myself getting out of the way and the Spirit really using me. Great ideas.

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