The Power in Group Prayer by Rick Warren “You are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety.” (2 Corinthians 1:11 NLT) To get through what you’re going through, you need to recruit other people to pray for you. This is very easy when you’re in a small group. When you’re going through a tough time and you’re not in a small group, you are unprotected. You don’t have the strength that people in a small group do because you don’t have people praying for you. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 1:11,“You are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety” (NLT). I’ll be honest with you: I don’t know how this works. But there is additional power in group prayer that is not there when you just pray for yourself. There is more power in group prayer than in the single power of you praying for yourself. The Bible says, “If any two agree as touching anything it shall be done” and “Where two or more are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” You need that power to get through what you’re going through. That’s why you need to be in a small group. That’s why you need to ask them to pray for you. The Bible says in Galatians 6:2, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ”(NIV). What is the law of Christ? “Love your neighbor as yourself.” When you pray for other people, you are loving your neighbor as yourself. When they pray for you, they are loving you as themselves. Power Verses: Amplified Bible 2 Corinthians 1:9-11, 9 Indeed, we felt within ourselves that we had received the [very] sentence of death, but that was to keep us from trusting in and depending on ourselves instead of on God Who raises the dead. 10 [For it is He] Who rescued and saved us from such a perilous death, and He will still rescue and save us; in and on Him we have set our hope (our joyful and confident expectation) that He will again deliver us [from danger and destruction and draw us to Himself], 11 While you also cooperate by your prayers for us [helping and laboring together with us]. Thus [the lips of] many persons [turned toward God will eventually] give thanks on our behalf for the grace (the blessing of deliverance) granted us at the request of the many who have prayed. Galatians 6:2, 2 Bear (endure, carry) one another’s burdens and troublesome moral faults, and in this way fulfill and observe perfectly the law of Christ (the Messiah) and complete what is lacking [in your obedience to it]. Luke 10:27, 27 And he replied, You must love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. Just A Thought: To acknowledge our faults to each other, will tend greatly to peace and brotherly love. And when a righteous person, a true believer, justified in Christ, and by his grace walking before God in holy obedience, presents an effectual fervent prayer, wrought in his heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, raising holy affections and believing expectations and so leading earnestly to plead the promises of God at his mercy-seat, it avails much. Past experiences encourage faith and hope, and lay us under obligation to trust in God for time to come. And it is our duty, not only to help one another with prayer, but in praise and thanksgiving, and thereby to make suitable returns for benefits received. Thus both trials and mercies will end in good to ourselves and others. Reference: Matthew Henrys Concise Commentary Talk It Over: * Who are the people in your life you can go to with your prayer requests and trust that they will pray for you? * How have you seen God provide for you through the prayers of a group of people? Memory Verse: James 5:16, 16 Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]. In Reflection: 💡 Believers should pray, not only for their own needs, but for those of others 💡 Effective prayer depends on faith, especially on a willingness to trust in God’s faithfulness to his promises to his people 💡 Faith is necessary for effective prayer 💡 God has promised to answer prayer for personal or corporate needs and for the needs of others 💡 Prayer is fellowship with God through Jesus Christ, expressed in adoration, thanksgiving and intercession, through which believers draw near to God and learn more of His will for their lives. 💡 The fellowship that believers share as a result of their common union with God through Jesus Christ is expressed in life together. It is evident in worship together, in a love for one another which reflects God’s own love and in a practical commitment to one another which is demonstrated in concern for the weak and readiness to share with the poor and needy. Reference: Dictionary of Bible Themes
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 12:32:28 +0000
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