TheImportance Of The Prayer Meeting

This Friday, at 8 pm, we will have our usual, weekly prayermeeting. It is our church prayer meeting. Although it is notheld in a church building or even in our regular worship venue, it is ourchurch prayer meeting simply because it is a time set aside each week that wemay get together as an assembly of saints to pray. Here, we pray for eachother, for the ministries of this church, for other churches, for thegovernment of Singaporeand for the advancement of God’s kingdom here and in other lands.

However, if this article is not read or makes no difference, thenthe meeting this Friday will be like most other prayer meetings we have had.When you come, you will not see the whole church there. You will see only asampling of our regular congregation—less than a third of the congregation wesee every Lord’s Day. I write this with a certain sense of disappointment in myheart. Disappointed, because, while, I see the importance that the Scriptureplaces on corporate prayer meetings, I know that as a church we are not doingvery well in this area. I do realise that many of us are unable to come for avariety of good reasons such as work, coupled with distance, young children,etc. But I wonder if some of us do not come because of a failure to grasp theimportance of prayer meetings; and thus a failure to put in more effort to bethere.

It is therefore my purpose to demonstrate to you from the Scripturethat attendance at prayer meeting is really a duty of every Christian.

The principle behind the idea of prayer meetings is taken from theLord’s words in Matthew 18:19-20, "Again I say unto you, That if two ofyou shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall bedone for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three aregathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt18:19-20). This statement was made as an appendix to the Lord’s teaching onchurch discipline. The Lord has just given the disciples instruction about howa brother who trespasses another is to be handled. The last step in theprocess, i.e. if the erring brother remains unrepentant despite having beencensured by the elders representing the church, is to count him as "anheathen man and a publican" (Matt 18:17), which means he is to beexcommunicated.

It is in the context of explaining the significance ofexcommunication (v. 18), that the Lord makes the remarks in v. 19-20 (above).For this reason, some interpreters believe that the gathering together (v. 20)refers to the meeting of the church or the elders to decide on theexcommunication of the erring person, and the agreement (v. 19) has to do withthe judgement meted out. This interpretation is, however, too restrictive.True, the context is on discipline, but the Lord seems to be stating a generalprinciple that is applicable in other situations too. You see, the Lord says"if two of you shall agree on earth as touchinganything they shall ask …" The Lord doesnot restrict His promise to the matter of church discipline. Moreover, the word‘agree’ translates a Greek word sumphôneô,from which we get the English word ‘symphony’. Etymologically, the wordliterally means, "to call out together." This, together with the word‘ask’ (Grk. aiteô) or‘request’, suggests to us a context of corporate prayer where there is harmonyin what is being asked for.

The idea of a prayer meeting is further augmented by the phrase"gathered together in my name" (v. 20), which suggests a purposefulChristian meeting. It is clear from the context that the Lord is not referringdirectly to the weekly Sabbath worship service. He promises that when thebrethren are so gathered, He would be in the midst of them (v. 20); and whenthey pray, He would answer their prayers (v. 19). In other words, the Lordpromises His special presence and power when we meet for prayer, just as Hepromises His presence and His power when we engage in the work ofevangelisation (Matt 28:18-20).

The Early Church, undoubtedly, saw the importance of corporate prayer.Although it is not possible to prove from the New Testament that they set asidea weekday each week for corporate prayer meeting, we have ample evidence thatthe church did meet regularly for prayer, apart from their weekly Lord’s Dayworship services. Very soon after the ascension of Christ, we find that thedisciples constantly gathered in corporate prayer. "These all continuedwith one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the motherof Jesus, and with his brethren" (Acts 1:14). It is possible that theywere meeting continually because they were dwelling together in the same house(cf. Acts 1:13). The next recorded prayer meeting occurred after Peter and Johnwere warned by the Sanhedrin not to preach anymore in the name of Jesus. Whenthe matter was reported to the brethren, they immediately met together inprayer. "They lifted up their voice to God with one accord" (Acts4:24), we are told. Some time later, King Herod arrested Peter. While he was inprison, "prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God forhim" (Acts 12:5). This does not mean that members of the church werepraying for him privately, for after Peter was released from the prison by theangel of the Lord, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, where, weare told, "many were gathered together praying" (Acts 12:12). Prayermeetings, moreover, did not end with Acts. We have evidence to suggest thatwhenever, Paul had company with him, he would call for "prayermeetings." Writing to the Colossians, he mentions about praying for themwith Timothy (Col 1:3, 9; notice the plural pronouns). Similarly, writing tothe Thessalonians, he tells them that he prays for them together with Silas andTimothy. "We givethanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers" (1Thes 1:2; cf. 3:10; 2Thes 1:11).

In our busy modern society, it is practically impossible to meetregularly on ad hoc bases to pray, as did the earlyChristians. But the principle and importance of corporate prayer remains. Itremains our duty to pray with fellow believers, to call out together to theLord for the needs of the church. What better way to achieve this than to meetat the scheduled week day prayer meeting? The Lord teaches us that by our lovefor one another, all men may know that we are His disciples (Jn 13:35). Whatbetter way to demonstrate our love for one another, than to meet to pray forone another during the week? What’s more, the Lord promises us His specialaudience and blessings when we meet to pray.

Of course, we do pray for various items during our pastoral prayerbefore the sermon each week, but there is a big difference between the pastoralprayer and the corporate prayer at prayer meetings. For, firstly, during prayermeeting, more than one person will pray—so we learn from each other and feelwith each other. Secondly, the prayer meeting is more personal, so thatspecific personal and intimate items may be brought up and prayed for, whichmay not be possible during the pastoral prayers. Thirdly, in the prayermeeting, we may appropriately pray for the ministry of the coming weekend—thepulpit ministry, the catechism classes, the church in fellowship etc. Prayerdoes make a difference! Fourthly, during prayer meetings, an opportunity isgiven to everyone to update one another on his or her needs and items ofthanksgiving, which is obviously impossible during worship services.Additionally, of course, those who come for the prayer meeting will testify tothe warmth of the fellowship after the meeting—something which is somewhatlacking on the Lord’s Day for some reasons.

Dearly beloved, I do believe that it is legalistic to measure aperson’s spiritual condition by whether he or she attends prayer meetings. ButI also believe that attendance at prayer meeting does in some sense indicatethe spiritual condition of the church as a local assembly. I am convinced thatif more of us come to pray and take the prayer meeting seriously, we can expectthe Lord to bless the ministry of our church in ways we cannot even imagine orask for (cf. Eph 3:20). On the other hand, it will be hard for us to attainunto the unity of faith and love that we constantly pray for, if only a fewcome together to pray. May the Lord grant that we will grow to be a body ofsaints concerned for one another, caring for one another and seeking the Lordtogether not only on the sabbath day. Spurgeon is right, I believe, when hetold his congregation: "Brethren, we shall never see much change for thebetter in our churches till the prayer meeting occupies a higher place in theesteem of Christians" (TheKind of Revival We Need).

May the exhortation of Spurgeon rebuke and remind us concerning ourduty to come to pray: "I should like to know of some of you, how long itis since you have been to a prayer meeting. Shall I stop and let you count? …Some of you very seldom come at all. If you are lawfully detained at home, Iwould never ask you to come or upbraid you for minding your home duties; foryou have no right to leave legitimate business that ought to be done to comehere. But I am certain that some of you are idle and might come if you liked. Ipray the Lord to send you a horsewhip in the shape of trouble in yourconscience till you do come, for it very much weakens us all in our prayers whenour numbers decline; and whenever people come to despise weeknight services, besure of it, farewell to the vital power of godliness, for weeknight servicesare very, very much the stamp of the man. Any hypocrite will come on a Sunday,but a man does need to take some interest in religious services to be foundmingling with the people of God in prayer. Am I to believe that some of you donot care whether souls are saved or not? Am I to believe that some of you, ourchurch members, have no care whether our ministry is blessed or not? Am I tobelieve that you continue members of a church in which you take no interest? AmI to believe that it is nothing to you whether Christ is crowned or despised? Iwill not believe it, and yet your absence from the meetings for prayer tends tomake me fear that it must be so. I beg you correct yourselves in this matter,and as the King’s garden wants rain and sunshine, and we cannot expect to haveit without prayer, let us not forget the assembling of ourselves together asthe manner of some is. Oh! for more prayer, more to pray, and for those who dopray, to pray with more fervor and more constancy in supplication!" (King’sGarden).

Will you not make extra effort to come, dearly beloved? And if youreally cannot come for some valid reason, may I urge you to be praying with usin your family, and to let us know you are doing so. Not that we believe in thesuperstition of synchronised prayers, but that it will both serve as a reminderto you to pray for the church and as an encouragement to those who do come toknow that you are praying though you cannot come. This is how the oneness ofthe church may be manifest: for as a church, we should be able account forevery member whenever we meet corporately. The fact that you can expect toreceive a phone call from me or from other members in the church if you areabsent for Sabbath worship indicates that we are still able to account foreveryone on the Lord’s Day. Pray that this will continue to be so, but prayalso that it may be so for the weekday prayer meeting too.

Just writing this sends a chill down my spine as I think of howimpersonal and disintegrated our church can be if we cannot even account forour members on the Lord’s Day. On the other hand, what a thrill fills my heartas I try to imagine what a blessing and effective witness it will be for thischurch when we begin to be able to account for every members during our weekdayprayer meeting.