FOUNDATIONS TWO
Learning from History
“When God is about to do a mighty new thing He always sets His people praying.”
In his book The Prayers of Many Mike Betts recounts a meeting in 2013, where God spoke to him about corporate prayer:
In 2013 I was listening to Pete Greig speak to a group of leaders I had gathered together. Pete is one of those guys I just mentioned - a hero of the faith who has written several great books on prayer. He has after all started a genuine prayer movement known as 24/7 Prayer that has been going for over twenty years now. As Pete was talking, he said:
"Corporate worship in church life has been changed beyond recognition in the past 30 years through much energy and creativity. Imagine what corporate prayer in church life would look like if the same attention had been given to that."
I was so impacted by this statement. I could not stop thinking about it. I still haven't. So much so that I decided that as far as it depended on me, I would try to become part of the solution and not remain part of the problem.
A Humble Attempt
In 1744 Jonathan Edwards began to take corporate prayer very seriously. He invited all the churches he had connection with to join him at regular set times to pray. They prayed in their different places, for a season about the same things. He explained his thinking a couple of years later in a book, A Humble Attempt.
Through the ENOUGH prayer initiative, we have recently made our own humble attempt by inviting churches to join together, in hubs, to pray in different places but at the same time. It's extraordinary prayer in different locations with a sense of occasion. It's explicit agreement as we focus the themes of our prayers around similar things. It's visible union so that although we are in different places across different time zones, we are meeting on the same day at the same time in our time zones.
Watch this video, which explains the vision and practice behind each ENOUGH prayer event.
“Say to your minister, ‘Sir, we must have more prayer.’ Urge the people to more prayer. Have a prayer meeting, even if you have it all to yourself... we must have an outpouring of real devotion, or else what is to become of many of our churches.”
Who will inspire you?
Who will inspire you?
Is there a hero of the faith, who has shown you something that you would like to replicate?
Who's story you know can inspire others?
Who's story needs to be told?
ENOUGH has used a model inspired by Jonathan Edwards. This doesn't mean to say you should use the same model. Revivals and moves of God throughout history have always included people being stirred to pray, but what has happened after that has varied as a result of culture, conditions and what God has done.
As you think about, plan and organise your own corporate prayer event, think about these questions.
“I used to think that prayer should have the first place and teaching the second. I now feel that it would be truer to give prayer the first, second and third place , and teaching the fourth.”
For more teaching and inspiration on prayer, read James O Fraser’s book, Mountain Rain.
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