Most of our church family prays because they want to. There is within us a compelling desire to pray because God speaks to us and calls us to spend time with Him. The answer to this question was almost unanimous from all those of completed the questionnaire. People at Grace want to pray. I praise the Lord for that.
There were 2 responses to the most important things in prayer that help us pray. “Calling God Father” was at the top of the list along with “Forgiveness of My sins.” Next in line came, “Looking forward to God’s kingdom coming here and in heaven,” together with “My forgiving others who have sinned against me,” and “God’s power at work in me.” When we pray, we use words like Father, Forgiven, Kingdom and Power. Some used the word Holy Spirit when talking about God’s power. You have helped me better understand not only WHY you pray, but also HOW you pray. I am humbled and grateful to learn more fully the prayer language this church family uses when it prays.
There was an open question which asked you to express your greatest prayer need. Responses like"
- “Reach Lost People,"
- “Remove self and allow the Holy Spirit to control,”
- “Moving of the Holy Spirit in me, Getting closer to Jesus, Strengthen my faith, doing better, God’s leading my prayers, and More of God and less of me”
I share all those pleas from the heart with you. We all can do better and be more in touch with God when we pray. It is a rich blessing to know that we share the same desire to have God more in control of our praying. Over and over, I heard you say, “More of God and less of me.” Maybe that is what happens when we pray. The more we pray, the more of God and less of me we get. That makes prayer worth everything we put into it.
Monday night this past week, our deacons met at the church to pray together. There was no business discussion. No planning and no reporting. Only praying and kneeling before God was done.
- We prayed for people within our church family.
- We prayed for healing and strengthening of those who are sick.
- We prayed that God would show us His truth.
- We asked God to establish His word within us all.
- We asked God to end dissensions, unite our church family, cause love to abound, forgive our sins, and send great revival to Grace.
This prayer meeting of deacons was a sweet fellowship, powerful outpouring and uniting of our hearts for the good of this church family. I cannot wait to see what God is going to do and how He chooses to answer the prayers of these wonderful men.
Listen once again to what the apostle John said about the power of prayer, “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him” (1 John 4:14-15). Our church has prayed. We can be confident that God has heard. Knowing that God hears us, gives us great strength and expectation that God is ready to do amazing things in and through us. I look forward with joy to all that He chooses to do in coming days.