Daily devotion – The wonder of praying together.
The Wonder of Praying Together
James 5:16
“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
There is something very special about being linked with other people because you have shared an experience, a responsibility or a situation together.
Think about soldiers who have gone into battle together. For the rest of their lives, they will be bound by the experience of having faced life and death alongside one another. There are also those who have been part of a team that has experienced the joy of ultimate success. Police officers, too, can share a unique bond because they have worked together in a profession that exposes them to things most people could never imagine or would ever have to face.
But there is something even more profound that happens within the Church of Jesus Christ.
Every born-again believer is part of the Body of Christ, and when we gather together to pray, something very special takes place.
Each Wednesday here at Calvary Chapel Secret Harbour, our least-attended gathering of the week is our prayer meeting. Yet I believe it is one of the most important gatherings we have. It is where brothers and sisters in Christ come together and go to battle spiritually.
We intercede for lost souls. We pray for those who are desperately ill and need the healing touch of the Lord. We bring the needs of families, our church, our community and the world before the throne of God.
And there is something powerful about praying for a matter together and then watching God answer that collective prayer.
When God answers a prayer that we have carried together, it touches something deep within us. Those prayer warriors will never forget it. Every time they see the answer in the flesh, or remind one another of what God did during some future spiritual battle, that shared experience binds them together in a supernatural way.
It is almost like soldiers resting together after they have given everything in the struggle. There is a deep satisfaction in knowing that we have stood together, fought together and trusted God together.
And then we discover that God not only hears our prayers—He answers them!
What a wonderful day it will be when our Wednesday prayer group gathers in glory and we see the people we prayed for who are there because they came to Christ. We will see the answers to prayers that perhaps seemed unanswered for years. We will understand things that we could not understand on earth, and together we will rejoice in the faithfulness of our great God.
Yes, our Wednesday prayer gathering has some amazing things—and some amazing people—to look forward to when we are all finally in glory.
So next Wednesday, we have the privilege of gathering together once again to bring the needs of the Church before the throne of God.
Let us never underestimate the wonder and power of praying together.
“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
Will you join us?