Praying together

¹⁴ if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. ¹⁵ Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. ¹⁶ For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. 2 Chronicles 7:14-16

The above verses are one of my favorite verses. Personal prayer is very important and we need to do it daily. Paul tells us to pray without ceasing! As Christians we all need to pray and keep a good relationship with the Lord. I could talk about personal prayer and the need for it all day, but for this article I am going to talk to you about the importance of corporate prayer and how corporate prayer helps us build fellowship and a close bound as a church.

Prayer is mentioned in the ESV Bible 154 times! By that alone we can see that prayer is important. There is recorded time and time again in the Bible of answers to prayer. Most of us understand the importance of personal prayer, but what about corporate prayer? There is something special about praying together as a body of Christ. I was taught in Bible College that a church that prays together stays together. When talking about corporate prayer we need to look at the history of the beginning of the church. And for that we go to the book of Acts. Acts 1:14 ¹⁴ All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. We see here that the early Church was together in unity. And in that unity they devoted themselves to prayer. Acts 2:42-43 ⁴² And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³ And awe^[a] came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. So again we see that they devoted themselves to prayer. When we pray together fellowship will accor. We get to know each other better and so then we can pray for each other better when we have our personal time of prayer. Praying together will help us build deeper relationships that is seen in the early church. The last piece of scripture I am going to use to help with my point is found in the book of James. James 5: ¹³ Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.^{[b] 17} Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. ¹⁸ Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. When we are sick and suffering we are to come to the Elders and have them anoint us with oil and pray for us. If we are struggling with a sin we are to have another person pray for us. James uses a great example of answered prayer with Elijah. We know that prayer works, just look around you and you will see answered prayer. When we practice what James is saying deep relationships will come out of it. There is something special about being able to be honest and open with someone so they can pray for your real life hard struggles. I know the real me is not always happy and funny. So when I share and then pray with another brother I don’t feel alone, I feel that someone else cares for me.