I love walking through texts and topics with each other. It adds an element of new understanding each time we talk through something new. As we begin July and into August, we’re going to be talking a lot about prayer, and specifically a lot about praying together.
This is a topic I believe is very important to the health of a church. I know we already do a lot of praying together, but there is always room for more. Pray without ceasing like 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says.
We’ll be touching on different topics of how to pray together in community and as a church, but also topics about what prayer does for us as a community.
Scripture talks relentlessly about prayer, from the Old Testament/Hebrew scriptures through to the New Testament ones. Jesus frequently prayed, alone and with his disciples. He taught them how to pray. They taught others how to pray, and down and down through the generations to us.
Prayer together as a church transforms us as a church. It unleashes the power of the Holy Spirit, it teaches us to believe we can behave better, it shows us the will of God. Prayer together will bring us together for one vision and one mission, and it will energize us to go out into the world and to make disciples.
I ask you to pray, pray individual for this congregation of God to feel the power of the Spirit working in and through us, pray for our health and our growth, and then pray for the world, that when we speak the Good News of the gospel, they their ears be opened and their hearts softened.