FASTING & PRAYER: The Priority of Corporate Prayers In The Ministry

FASTING & PRAYER: The Priority of Corporate Prayers In The Ministry: I want to persuade you from God's Word on the importance of corporate prayer that you will never view the prayer meetings of your church...

Importance of Corporate Prayers In The Church today by Pastorsdwilsonjr.

                  IMPORTANCE OF CORPORATE PRAYER TODAY IN OUR CHURCHES
Why am I passionate about corporate prayer? It has worked for me,and many churches,small groups and many evangelists across the world.I want to persuade you from God's Word on the importance of corporate prayer,and how it can amend and bring positive change in our ministries,and prayer meetings.It brings us collective as a body united as one in confidence before God,not just as individuals,but as one body in Christ.We are gathered together with the purpose of seeing God's glory manifested among us
 If you don't know it can rise the dead.God wants us to come together as a body and pray.Have you wonder why your prayer meeting is poor or your Prayer Ministry is inactive? Something is lacking and I want to share some thoughts on it.
When God called me to go out into the world and preach the gospel,I spend few months in an Apostles class of 12 men.After graduation and ordained I was released into the world to do God's will.As I begin doing ministerial works,I took prayer as a strong weapon that enable me to experience the presence of God in my life.     

Let's look at few things I've listed:
                     

1. Corporate prayer is on par with preaching and teaching as a priority in a healthy church.
2. Praying together is a vital key to opening God's presence and work among His people in unique ways. And
3. The tendency among believers, even among those who occupy leadership positions in the church, to think of prayer gatherings as the extra-curricular activity in the life of the church

I. Praying together was modeled and practiced by Christ

The apostles learned their leadership patterns from the Master, Jesus Christ. Ransack the Gospels for Jesus' teaching and practice of prayer, and you will identify 37 verses, sometimes repeated in more than one Gospel. Of those 37 instances in which Jesus refers to prayer, 33 of them were addressed to a plural rather than singular audience. In other words, Jesus' instruction decisively leaned toward praying with others, not just praying in private.

Take, for example, Matt. 7:7: "Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you." We read "you" in that verse and immediately think it's singular, referring to an individual. In fact, it is a plural "you," meaning Jesus is urging a gathering of believers to ask, seek, and knock.

In other passages, Jesus deliberately emphasized the significance of praying together. Listen to Matt. 18:19: Again, I assure you: If two of you on earth agree about any matter that you pray for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven. Jesus could have said, "If anyone asks...;" instead, He deliberately chose to emphasize a group gathered for prayer. This focus of Jesus' on more than one praying indicates that there is a design of God's in such gatherings, through which He uniquely and powerfully works.

II. Corporate prayer in history

There are so many examples of how corporate prayer was the springboard for the sweeping movements of God. Let me mention a few. In 1857, America was riding the wave of a strong economy, and, as tends to be true in times of prosperity, showed a radical decrease of interest in the things of God. There was a layman named Jeremiah Lamphier whose concern led to a call for prayer. He tacked up notices in NYC calling for a weekly prayer meeting on Wednesdays from noon till one at a rented space on Fulton Street.

The first prayer meeting was on September 23, 1857. Only six people came, and they didn't arrive until just before 12:30. The next week, the attendance jumped to 20. The numbers continued to climb week-by-week.

Then, on October 10th, the Stock Market crashed and financial panic ensued. Trouble had its humbling affect and the hearts of many turned to spiritual matters. It wasn't long until somewhere between 10 and 50,000 businessmen were meeting every day in NYC to pray at noon. By week 15, the meetings moved from weekly to daily.

In 1858, this prayer movement leaped to every major city in America. The Second Great Awakening swept our land. Estimates are that a million Americans out of a population of 30 million at that time were converted in less than two years. And it all started with prayer.

Rees Howells, a Welsh coal miner, journeyed to South Africa as a missionary in 1910 in response to an increasing burden from the Lord. Six weeks after arriving, he joined in a prayer meeting. Out of that came the sweeping work of the Holy Spirit in which they had two revival meetings a day for fifteen months and all day on Friday. Thousands were converted as a result.

I could tell you story after story of how corporate prayer became the springboard for the mighty movement of God. But I want to add one more proof that is as current as today's newspaper.

III. Praying together and God's works today

Right now, the Gospel is sweeping the globe at a rate that is unimaginable. Avery Willis, the VP of our IMB, has reported that statistically, most of the people who have ever been saved in history were saved during the 20th Century. Willis suggested as high as 70 percent of the total number of people who have been saved throughout world history have come to Christ in the last hundred years.

But get this: 70 percent of that number has been saved since 1945! Let me boggle your mind with one other layer of observation from this world missions expert: 70 percent of those saved since 1945 were saved since 1990! That's how fast the Gospel is storming our world. That means that at the turn of the 21st Century, possibly one-third of all Christians who have ever lived have been converted since 1990!

What does that look like? In Nepal, just 2000 Christians were known in 1990; ten years later that number had grown to half a million. Cambodia claimed only 600 believers in 1990; there is a reported 60,000 today. In Korea during the 20th Century, the country advanced from being 2 percent Christian to about 40 percent Christian today. East Africa is experiencing one of the greatest movements of God in history. In Uganda alone, HIV/AIDS once claimed the lives of one-third of the population. The World Health Organization predicted the complete collapse of the Ugandan economy by the year 2000.

But revival has come to that country. With the salvation of many has come a transformation in morals, so that AIDS is down to 5 percent. So great is this revival that one church alone went from 7 in attendance to an average of 2000 in just two weeks! Currently, that same church as a membership of 22,000 and has planted 150 other churches.

In almost every quarter of the globe, Christianity is advancing...except for four primary areas: North America, Japan, Australia, and Western Europe. Guess what one of the common denominators is everywhere Christianity marches forward? Christians spend time in prayer together. Track what God is doing in Korea, in China, in India, in Eastern Africa, and you will find behind the scenes prayer meetings.

I know what you're thinking. Our prayer meetings don't seem to convey that sort of power. And you're right. Over the next several weeks, you will see some strategic shifts in how we spend our time on Wednesdays and when our Prayer Teams get together. But as we progress in that direction, you be the change that's needed.

Corporate prayer is for each and everyone of the believers and it brights each of us in the presence of GOD.I hope my knowledge help you and bring out the fire of corporate prayer out of you.God Bless!!