Matthew 14:23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.
Acts 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.
Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
Acts 12:11 And when Peter was come to himself, he
said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath
delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the
people of the Jews.
12 And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother
of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying.
2 Corinthians 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
Ephesians 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing. 18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Since the earliest days of the church, prayer has been both a bulwark and a weapon. Our Lord Jesus knew the value of it; he often went off by himself to pray, both to regain his strength and to prepare for what was to come, as in the Garden. In the book of Acts, the disciples often joined in prayer, especially in times of crisis. Based on the record of Scripture, what can we conclude about prayer?
Prayer is not a one way street. God doesn't just "answer" prayer by giving us what we request, he answers us by speaking to our hearts when we pray. When do we pray? All the time, the Bible says, "without ceasing". How is that possible? It's like keeping an open line on the phone, except that God is right there with us, not in some distant place. It's like spending time with our spouse, or a close friend; we may not be talking all the time, but we're there when one or the other speaks. Praying without ceasing is a lifestyle, a life attitude if you will (perhaps a be-attitude :)). In short, when we pray, we don't launch into a monologue; we await the Lord's response when we ask a question, or reach a breaking point in the conversation. How do we know the Lord is talking to us, and not our own flesh, or some other spirit? The same way we recognize our spouse's voice when he or she calls us on the phone; familiarity. The more time we spend with the Lord, the better we'll recognize his voice.
Prayer begins and ends with praise. Jesus gave us that pattern in the Lord's model prayer. He begins with praise, "Hallowed be thy name", and ends with it "For thine is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever." Praise is telling God who He is, what He does, and how much we are thankful for it, how great and marvelous it all is. Praise does not always come easy. Some people find it helps to read a favorite Psalm, or sing a verse or two of a hymn like My Jesus I Love Thee. Whatever we do, this is an extremely important part of our prayer lives. The Psalms say, "But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." (Psalms 22:3). If God lives in the praises of his people, which we in the church now are, then we can't approach him without them. As praying without ceasing, this is an attitude; the occasion might not always permit us to say the actual words. Praise brings joy; if there's no joy in our lives, then there is probably no praise of God either.
Prayer requires persistence. See particularly Luke 18:1-8. the story of the persistent widow and the unjust judge. Jesus also makes the connection here with faith; if we don't believe that God will answer our prayers, we shouldn't make them to begin with. Hear what James said: James 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. Persistence is not a matter of changing God's mind, though there are occasions that Scripture says that happened (see, for example, Exodus 32:9-14). It's usually a matter of strengthening our faith; Psalms 27:14, my life verse, says, Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. No one likes to wait, but the timing of the Lord's answer is often necessary because other things have to take place first, or at the same time. Abraham had to wait until he was 100 to receive God's promise of a son. If he hadn't, Rebekah would probably not have been Isaac's bride, the entire bloodline of Israel would have been changed. For another example of persistence in prayer, see Daniel 10:1-13.
Prayers must be specific. General prayers like "heal the sick" or "save the lost" are meaningless; God already does that. We need to pray like "Lord, please heal Aunt Ethel's gout", or "Please save Cousin Andrew, who drinks way too much". If we want God to to bring revival to our church, then that's what we need to pray for. The favorite scripture for revivals is: Psalms 85:6 Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he didn't say just, "Come forth", or all the graves within the sound of his voice would have opened. No, he said, Lazarus come forth." Not all prayer is petition (or shouldn't be, if we offer up praise and thanksgiving), or supplication for others, but when we do pray, we should say what we mean, and mean what we say. Again, that's not for God's benefits, because he already knows before we ask. (An interesting example of this is the prayer of Abraham's steward concerning a bride for Isaac; before he even finished praying, Rebekah was walking toward the well.
The answer to prayer is not always "Yes". Answering all of our prayers affirmatively would sometimes be disastrous, for ourselves or for others. God is still sovereign; just because we exercise faith, and pray with persistence doesn't mean he is obligated to grant what we request. One of the best example's of the Father's saying "No" to a prayer, and of the grace to accept the answer, is Christ's prayer in the Garden to let the cup of suffering pass from him (Matthew 26:39 ff.). If God does not answer our prayers the way we want, it may be that he already has; no amount of pleading will change his mind when he has said "No" to us.
Many things in our lives can hinder prayer. The most basic one is unbelief, as seen above in James, but there are many specific ones. Not giving appropriate honor to our spouses can hinder our prayers (1 Peter 3:7), as can being carnal, or acting as if we were still in the world (Romans 8:7, 1 Corinthians 3:1-4). There is a long list of things: a besetting sin (Hebrews 12:1), unrepented sin (2 Samuel 11-12, Psalms 51), unforgiveness (Matthew 6:14-15), and disobedience (Ephesians 5:6, and others). Before approaching the throne of God, and lifting our petitions to him, we first must allow the Spirit to deal with those areas of our lives that separate us from God. He said, " But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. (1 Peter 1:15-16). We all know, of course, that the goal of God-like holiness is a goal we will only finally achieve in Glory, so we're talking in degrees. To the extent that it lies within us to submit to God's will, though, this is a necessary prerequisite to success in prayer.
There is great power in unity. Matthew 18:19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. This presupposes that we are abiding or living, in Jesus, and that his Word is alive in us: John 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. That's why it is so vitally important that we have a prayer partner, our spouse or a friend or family member. It is also why united prayer, such as that exercised by the disciples before Pentecost, can have such powerful results.
All right -- having said all that, how does all of that help your church? Number one, the church is a body, made up many members, and each one has his or her purpose or function (1 Corinthians 12:12-26). Unless at least some members of the local body are ready to commit (more on that later) to making themselves right with God (at least two), then, in all likelihood, the church will fail. Beyond that, the congregation needs to form, and stick to, a prayer action plan. The following is just a suggested program. Your church can make one better suited to your own needs:
Draw up a list of specific things to pray for every day, individually, in the church and for its members and the surrounding community. A church is only as strong as its members (in the Lord), and no church body exists in a vacuum. The state of the area around the church, and how the church interacts with it, often has everything to do with the state of the church. Write all of the requests down, and have the list copied, either in handwritten form or printed out, with at least one copy per family. The list should have two columns; more on the second one later.
Every one who takes a prayer list should commit (that word again) before God and the congregation, singly or as a group, to spend a minimum of 15 minutes every day praying for the concerns in the list. The pastor or someone in the congregation can point out some even more specific concerns within each of the requests that can keep the prayer from becoming superficial; it does no good just to read the list, then sit there for the next fourteen minutes and thirty seconds twiddling your thumbs!
Arrange a time at least once a week, say before Sunday School, for any who will to pray for these needs, and these alone unless others are added by the prayer group. The prayers may be silent or spoken, and one person may pray aloud, or all, but no one should leave the meeting until the appointed time before the Lord (I would suggest half an hour) is finished. Let one person at each gathering, before prayer starts, read a Psalm, or lead in singing a song, and end the meeting in the same way.
The special prayer meetings (that is, the prayer time as a part of the church's program) should extend for a definite period of time, not to test the Lord, but to test our faith. Things don't happen overnight, unless the Lord deigns to move in a sovereign way. As prayers are answered (and you must believe they will be!), record the answers in the second column (each person should keep his or her own sheet updated). I would suggest, depending on the nature of the requests, a period of six months to a year. At that time, the congregation can gather to review what God has done, and remove and, especially, add, requests. That doesn't mean that you should stop the prayer meetings after that, just that the congregation meets to evaluate what the Lord has done, and decide where to go from there. It also doesn't mean, of course, that you shouldn't share answers to prayer as they happen, as this is a great source of encouragement. Looking back on what God has done over the past number of months by looking at all the answered requests is also a great encouragement, and a faith builder.
Corporate prayer is an ongoing process. Once you've gotten into the "habit", never get out of it. Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. And again, 2 Corinthians 9:6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Paul was talking about giving for the Lord's work here, but the application goes far beyond that. If we pray for 30 seconds a day, or not at all, we'll see scant results for our prayers. The more we exercise the "prayer muscle", the stronger it becomes, and the greater the results we'll see. Some people have a special calling as prayer warriors, but all of us are commanded to pray, just as we're all called to witness to others for the cause of Christ.
For your own personal devotional time, set a time each day when you can, and will, do it. Whether it's in the morning, when you first get up, in the evening, before you go to bed, or in the middle of the day, stick to whatever time you establish. Even if you don't "feel" like it (don't base your faith on feelings!), do it anyway. This is vitally important; of Bible study and prayer don't become a part of our daily routine, we'll never stick with them.