We don’t come to God alone; we come connected to all who also belong to him.
Prayer is a critical part of our intimacy with God. But in our individualistic culture, we may make the mistake of focusing on one facet of prayer—our personal interaction with the Lord—while we miss out on the bigger picture of corporate prayer. Megan Hill, the author of Praying Together, reminds us that Jesus taught us to pray not simply “My Father” but “Our Father.” Hill explores the biblical record of the early church which is interwoven with example after example of corporate prayer. This week, join Hill in a rich, spiritual exploration of what it really means to pray together. (To have these and future devotions emailed to you for free, click here.)
Monday, November 28, 2016
Matthew 6:9–13
“Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.”
Prayer Is Relational
Our relationships naturally express themselves in communication. When my ringing phone lights up with the picture of my mother or my close friend, I’ll happily answer even if I’m hauling groceries to the house in the rain. (But, on the other hand, when it flashes an unfamiliar number, I rarely feel compelled to respond.) The mutual love I share with certain people makes me eager to talk with them.
Our most important relationship, of course, is the one we have with God, and prayer is the precious communication that expresses our love. In the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he deliberately told them to begin with “Our Father”—just two small words that remind us our God is no distant deity but a loving and relational father. We approach God as his eager and confident children, expecting that he will listen and respond by giving us what is good.
Having God as father also reminds us of the relationship we have with all of his other children. Not only do we say “Father” but we say “Our Father.” We don’t come to God alone but we come connected to all who also belong to him. Like children at the dinner table, we share in a family conversation with our heavenly parent.
And we pray for God’s other children as we pray for ourselves: Not just my daily bread, but our daily bread. Not just my need for forgiveness, but our need for forgiveness. Not just my rescue from sin, but rescue from sin for all of us.
Let us pray.
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Acts 1:14
“They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.”
Devoted to Praying Together
Most of us have a long list of activities we intentionally make time for—we have trails we like to hike, TV shows we like to watch, recipes we like to cook, and upcycling projects we can’t wait to tackle. But as much as we enjoy those things, we probably wouldn’t say we are devoted to them. If we are honest, there are very few activities we prioritize highly enough to do constantly.
The members of the early church had that kind of commitment to praying together. As soon as Jesus had ascended to heaven, they gathered in the upper room for prayer. And this was not a unique event. If we survey the entire book of Acts, we see that the first-century Christians prayed together all the time: They prayed when they arrived and when they departed. They prayed together when they were sick and imprisoned but also when they were simply sitting down for a meal. They prayed in formal worship services and at the riverside prayer meetings.
The early church had much to do, but essential to their gospel-proclaiming, bread-breaking, widow-feeding, and church-planting work was the task of praying together.
What’s more, they gathered for prayer with a diversity of people. Acts records prayer meetings that included prisoners, apostles, church elders, women, children, sailors, soldiers, and Jesus’s own brothers. Every Christian had a welcome place in the unity of corporate prayer.
Praying together is rarely easy or convenient, but the priority of the early church is an encouragement to us today. We, too, ought to unite constantly in this precious task. We, too, ought to join with all God’s people as they say, “Amen.”
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Matthew 18:19–20
“I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.”
Agreeing with Jesus
When I joined my college’s synchronized swimming team, I found the sport incredibly difficult. It wasn’t the flips and kicks and surface dives that gave me trouble; it was synchronizing with my teammates. At first, I tried to watch the other swimmers out of the corner of my eye, matching my motions to theirs. But I quickly realized that this strategy just caused me to lag behind. The only way for the whole team to align was if we each focused on stable points outside ourselves: the beats of the music and our position in the pool.
We sometimes approach prayer with other people like rookie synchronized swimmers. We know that Jesus tells us to “agree” with others in prayer, and we desire his promised blessing (“my Father. . .will do it for you”), but we aren’t always sure how to align ourselves. Do we figure out what everyone else wants and pray that? Or do we try to convince others to go along with our prayers? For a group with diverse personalities, needs, and priorities, agreeing in prayer can seem impossible.
