THE PRAYER MEETING
If two of you agree on earth concerning anything, whatever they may ask, it shall come to them from My Father who is in the heavens. For where two or three are gathered together…” (Matt. 18:19-20).
Here the Lord is speaking concerning the prayer of a meeting. This kind of prayer is more powerful than the prayer of an individual, being able to bind on earth what has been bound in heaven, and to loose on earth what has been loosed in heaven (Matt. 18:18).
2)“These all were persevering with one accord in prayer, together with the women…” (Acts 1:14).
Here again, the prayer of a meeting is mentioned. It was this prayer that brought in the blessing of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
3)“And when they heard this, they lifted up their voice with one accord to God and said…And as they were beseeching, the place in which they were gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:24-31).
It says here that in those days when the disciples were under persecution, they met together to pray with one accord. That kind of prayer caused them to be filled outwardly with the Holy Spirit and to speak the word of God with boldness.
4)“Prayer was being made fervently by the church to God concerning him” (Acts 12:5); “where [the house of Mary] a considerable number were assembled together praying” (12:12).
On the day when Peter was imprisoned, the church prayed fervently for him, and a considerable number were assembled together in a sister’s house, praying for him specifically. That prayer caused God to perform a great miracle, delivering Peter out of prison.
CHARATERISTICS OF THE PRAYER MEETING
A. Praying in One Accord
The basic requirement for brothers and sisters to pray together is to be in one accord. In Matthew 18 the Lord tells us to be in harmony, that is, in one accord. The prayer in Acts 1 was also a prayer in one accord. Hence, the first condition for carrying out a prayer meeting is to have the one accord. No one should come to the prayer meeting with a different mind. If we want to have a prayer meeting, we must ask in one accord.
“If two of you are in harmony on earth concerning any matter for which they ask, it will be done for them from My Father who is in the heavens” (Matt. 18:19). This is a very strong word. In Greek the word harmony refers to music. Consider three persons—one playing the piano, another playing the accordion, and the third playing the flute. When they play together and one plays out of tune, the sound will be very irritating. The Lord wants all of us to pray in harmony, not with different tunes. If we can be in harmony, then whatever we ask, God will accomplish. Whatever we bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever we loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. The basic condition is to be in harmony. We must learn to be in harmony before God. We should not pray capriciously with everyone still holding to his or her own idea.
B. Being Specific
How can our prayers be in harmony? Perhaps the biggest problem in our prayer meeting is that we bring up too many subjects. Once there are too many subjects in the prayer meeting, it is impossible to have harmony. Some prayer meetings have so many subjects that the meetings are an all-inclusive bazaar. We cannot find such a meeting in the Bible. What we see in the Bible is men praying for specific matters. When Peter was imprisoned, the church prayed for him fervently (Acts 12:5). They did not pray for many things but for one specific thing. When the subject is specific, it is easy to pray in harmony.
According to Acts 1 and 2, Pentecost was brought in through the power of prayer. Please remember that the cross was the work of the Son of God, while Pentecost was the work of the children of God. How did such a great work occur? It came through prayer in one accord. Let us learn to concentrate our prayer on specific subjects, not on many items.
C. Being Genuine
Another basic requirement is to be genuine in our prayer. I am afraid that many words in the prayer meeting are spoken in vain. Many people pay attention to the nicety of the words and care little whether or not God listens to them. It seems to be of little consequence to them that God does not listen to their prayers. Such prayers in the prayer meeting are often artificial and vain.
Genuine prayer is the result of a desire that comes from the heart. It is something that flows out from our inner being. Genuine prayer is not made up of flippant and nice words. Only genuine words that flow out from the deepest part of the heart can be considered as genuine prayer. The goal of our prayer should be an answer from God rather than pleasing the brothers and sisters.
If we are not genuine in our prayer, we cannot expect the church to be strong. In order for the church to be strong, the prayer meeting must be strong. In order for the prayer meeting to be strong, all the prayers have to be genuine; no prayer should be artificial. If we are not genuine, we cannot expect to receive anything from God.
Prayer is not a sermon; it is not a speech. To pray is to ask the Lord for something. We do not need to speak many words before God in the prayer meeting, as if God knows nothing and needs to be informed of all the details. We do not need to make a report or preach a message to Him. We pray because we have a need and because we are weak. We want to receive spiritual supply and power through prayer. The amount of genuine prayer we have depends on the amount of need that we feel. If we do not feel any need, our prayers will be vain prayers.
One basic reason for vain prayers is that a person is too conscious of others in the prayer meeting. As soon as we pay attention to others, our prayer is easily filled with vain words. On the one hand, our prayer in the prayer meeting is offered on behalf of the whole meeting. On the other hand, we have to pray as if we were alone before God; we have to pray to God in a genuine way according to our needs.
The more urgent our need is, the more genuine our prayer will be. The Lord Jesus once gave an illustration. A man had a visitor to his house, but he ran out of bread. So he went to his friend for bread. The need was urgent; he had no bread. After asking persistently, the other friend gave in to his need. The Lord Jesus then said, “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened” (Luke 11:10). If the need is urgent and we ask properly, it shall be given to us.
D. Being Short
Our prayers must be genuine, and they must be short. Almost all the prayers in the Bible are short. The prayer taught by the Lord in Matthew 6 is quite short. Although the prayer offered by the Lord in John 17 before He departed from the world is quite long, it is much shorter than the prayers of some of God’s children today. The prayer in Acts 4 was the prayer of the whole church; it also was quite short. The prayer in Ephesians 1 is very important, yet it is short. One does not need five minutes to finish that prayer.
Many prayers in the prayer meeting are vain and unreal because they are too long. Perhaps two or three sentences out of the whole prayer are genuine, but the rest are redundant. Those two or three sentences are for God, but the rest are for the brothers and sisters. These prayers drag the meeting on. New believers should forget about the long prayers of the old-timers. They should offer short prayers instead. Not all the brothers and sisters can pray long prayers. If we continue to pray long prayers, the church will suffer great loss. Long prayer also saps the strength of the prayer meeting. Suppose you pray five minutes longer than you should and another does the same thing. When more and more people pray long prayers, the meeting drags on and is weighted down. Charles Spurgeon once said that the most improper thing for anyone to do is to ask God for forgiveness of shortcomings in the midst of a long prayer. Mackintosh also put it well when he said, “Do not try to torture God’s children with your prayer.” There are many people who whip others, not with a whip, but with long prayers. The more they pray, the more uncomfortable others become. We should learn to offer short and genuine prayers whenever we meet together.
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