Prayer and the Healthy Church
"These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer..." - Acts 1:14a
To grow in your spiritual relationship in Christ, you need to associate with a solid, healthy church. How can you identify a healthy church? One of the best ways is to find one that is firmly planted in prayer. This is a critical indicator of a healthy church because the Christian church actually began though a prayer meeting. After Christ's resurrection, He spent 40 days with His disciples explaining what the mission of the church should be. Before He ascended to heaven, Jesus told them to go to Jerusalem and wait in the upper room. They were in the upper room for ten days—in a ten-day prayer meeting asking for God's guidance and waiting for God to lead them. God responded powerfully with the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The church actually originated from a prayer meeting of waiting on God.
Throughout scripture, we see that Jesus was quite clear that His house was to be a house of prayer. Throughout His mission on earth, Jesus regularly immersed Himself with prayer, setting the example for His followers. Jesus taught us how to pray. And His church was founded on prayer. So, you can find a healthy church by seeing how they follow the example of Jesus. A starting point of a healthy church begins with prayer.
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6 Comments
I have found a church that is firmly planted in prayer. Our pastor is a firm believer in the power of prayer and has said that the strongest assets of our church are its faithful prayer warriors. - Judy Grebe
This is a beautiful and true devotion. I am wondering how different churches handle the situation of believers being at varying levels of maturity in their prayer life? Are there separate groups praying or is everybody together with some praying fluently and other beginners reluctant or only managing to say a few words? I know of a situation where a few people feel the need to break out of the larger prayer group because they feel it is too routine and they want to go deeper into prayer. I am trying to decide if that is what God would want. Does anyone have experience with this? - Janice
Janice, another sign of a healthy church is one that is active seven days a week. For a healthy church, the service on Sunday is just "the tip of the iceberg". Sunday School, Bible Study Groups, Wednesday night suppers, mission trips, community service, childrens ministry, teen ministry, seniors ministry, and it goes on and on. I found that a series of formalised Bible Studies called Christian Disciple changed my life. I have been following that path for six years now and have fellowshiped with some of the greatest "prayer warriors" you could imagine. Participants have been men and women from 25 to 85, and they are my best friends now. As Paul said, we need to continue to grow and mature as Christians. Check with your church about Bible study groups that might fit your schedule. It might change your life too. - Grant
At our Church on Tuesday nite we have our Mens prayer meeting and we have some new Christians and some older ones also. No one is made to pray, and no one put another brother down because of his inability to pray as the others do. This has helped the newer Christians to pray out loud and to grow in their walk with the Lord. It has also helped us older one to remember when we were new believers, and was thrilled just to be called upon to pray. Spiritual innocence is some times wonderful, the simple prayers reach God faster it seems. He doesn't have to sift thru all of the big words that we have learned to say. I asked a new believer to pray one time in Church and he said he didn't know how, but when he started his first few words were "Hello God, this is Old John", when he was finished no one remembered any of my sermon, we all were convicted by the simple yet beautiful prayer that we had just herd. Prayer is important. God bless everyone and have a good evening. - Jerry
Thank you, Grant and Jerry, for taking time to make your comments. I enjoyed hearing what you had to say. Grant, I am wondering about the Bible study series you mentioned, is it the same as the Disciple Bible study that is used in the Methodist church? Or if it is another study, where do you find it? I sometimes do Bible studies from workbooks on my own. I have especially enjoyed some by John MacArthur but I can see how a group study would be of benefit. Jerry, I really enjoyed hearing about how that fellow you mentioned began his humble prayer. I always appreciate what you have to say. Referring back to a past comment, I did find a Gaither recording at the library, "What a Time", which I have been playing and I especially like the songs that sometimes feature the voices of older people singing. They show such love through their singing and it is a blessing to hear them. - Janice
Janice, This kind of singing is what I grew up around, as a boy my Mothers family sat and played the old Hymns and Bluegrass gospel. I used to sing in a group such as those groups and these people do know who they are singing about, He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Some personal friends of mine, "The Old Paths" are an excellent group to hear if you can find their CD's. They had a song that went to #49 on the charts last year and the writer of that song just did a Revival for me at our Church a couple weeks ago. Well take care and God bless you. - Jerry