In every church I’ve been in it has been a struggle to get people to attend corporate prayer meetings. Not just people, mind you—it’s been an uphill battle to convince Christians to attend church prayer meetings.
This leads me to ask the question; is corporate prayer optional?
The best way to check ourselves is always to look to Jesus. He’s perfectly obedient to the heart of His Father, and He’s our role model for a life of faith. (More on that later.)
For sure, Jesus was a fan of private prayer. Teaching His disciples to pray (in Matt 6), He advises them to find a secret place to pray away from the eyes of others. Not, mind you, because public prayer is unhealthy, but because of the pride of Pharisees. Jesus led His disciples to the Mount of Olive to His “secret place,” and Luke makes a special point to note that this was His “custom” (see Luke 5:16, but also Matt 26:36 and Mark 14:26.)
In Luke 4 we see Jesus return from His wilderness temptation and victory, to return to the place of gathering. “So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day…” (Luke 4:16)
It seems to me that Jesus had a custom to pray often. A better way to say this might be, Jesus was constantly praying and frequently invited His disciples to join Him. This is a good way to think about our own prayer lives.
Well-trained in prayer, His disciples continued to gather for prayer after Jesus had ascended to His Father. “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” (Acts 2:42). A few lines later in his epistle Luke writes that Peter and John were heading to the temple “at the hour of prayer,” the language certainly implying this was a daily practice.
An interesting note in the NET Reference section explains that the Greek word for prayer in Acts 2:42 (προσευχηε) refers to prayer offered to God, (that makes sense), but then goes on to extrapolate this further as “a place set apart or suited for the offering of prayer, a synagogue, or a place in the open air where the Jews were wont to pray, outside the cities, where they had no synagogue.”
God’s people were accustomed to praying together in open spaces, to seek Him and his Goodness in their lives.
Jesus models obedience as a means of faith. His custom to seek God often, publicly and privately, alone and together with His friends, was a demonstration of His devotion and submission to God’s purposes worked out through God’s hand. This is faith: to seek God and trust Him for His providence.
Will you join us in corporate prayer? I hope so. – Phil
Check out our ZION Facebook page for advertised prayer meetings, in person and online.
Here are some other articles I found inspiring: