We Have Refined Our Prayer Meeting
From the desk of Rev Zheng 1 September 2024
“Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” (Mat 18: 19)
For the past few years, it has been the same group of people attending the church’s prayer meeting, about 15 of them. Though we wish more could join, our greater concern is the meeting’s diminishing vigour and falling into formality. This phenomenon is not to be ignored since prayer meetings are the church’s life pulse and her charges on the spiritual battlefield.
Therefore, the prayer warriors gathered in small groups on 17th July and made some well-thought-out suggestions, which we used to refine the prayer meeting’s content and format. After a month’s trial, we decided to adopt it formally. Changes are reflected mainly in two areas.
The first is to have devotional reading twice a month on the church’s One Year Bible Reading Plan while continuing with the Life Bible Study fortnightly. Attendees will be seated in groups of 5 or 6 and read and meditate on a chosen passage silently for 5 minutes. Then, they will share briefly what they receive from the passage. Sharing is not compulsory as there are only 15 minutes to share. To help you do the devotional reading fruitfully, we provide the 4-step guiding bookmark:
- The facts in this passage
- The truths revealed in these facts
- What God says to me through the truths
- How should I respond to God?
We encourage you to use a paper notebook because every spiritual illumination is precious. Most of us find that devotional reading avoids the tiredness of passive hearing, especially after a hard day’s work.
The second change is to pray in small groups, and we discover some wonders in it.
- Singing, talking, and praying in small groups reduces physical distance and brings us closer.
- It eliminates the pressure of praying before a big group, and we can pray unpretentiously.
- Exchanging views on the prayer item helps establish understanding and agreement on the need. Thus, we can pray more confidently and say amen with a stronger resonance!
- We sing a short hymn in the midst of praying. It helps us refocus on God’s attributes, such as goodness, love, power…etc.
We will constantly reform and refine our prayer meeting, and the Lord will be pleased. Brothers and sisters, God bestows blessings from heaven to the church whenever we pray in harmony corporately. Come! Lift up our hearts and pray together!
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