The Value of Praying Together

This is a 'what do you value' question.  Do you value opportunities to pray with fellow Christians?

We talk about prayer, and we say how important prayer is, or should be, in our lives.  But, and yes there is a BUT, how often do we engage in prayer with others? 

Chatting with a friend a couple of weeks ago, a comment was said, 'We should pray'.  How I valued my friend's wise discernment that, yes, after our wonderful time catching up, we were able to pray together as fellow Christians.

Prayer is not easy for many people. Most of us keep prayer as requests to the Lord, superficial, and often we have a list of petitions.  But real, honest prayer means being honest, vulnerable, and genuine. 

The value of praying together (some Scripture.  I encourage you to search for more scripture passages):

• Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11
• How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! Psalm 133:1
•  They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. Acts 1:14
• They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Acts 2:42
• So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. Acts 12:5 (read whole passage)
• I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Romans 15:30.

The value of praying together brings us closer to one another, we can encourage when life is good and when life crashes over us, like storm waves.  We can fellowship together.

“Fellowship is a relationship of inner unity among believers that expresses itself in outer co-participation with Christ and one another in accomplishing God’s will on earth.” Read more about The importance of Fellowship here.

We can study God's word together, and bring before the Lord, those who are undergoing difficult circumstances because of their faith or have health or other issues. We can intercede for our community and the society in which we live.

But most importantly, we can pray together to acknowledge and praise the Lord for his never-ending kindness and love towards us.  We can bring him honor, we can confess those areas in our lives which we struggle with, confess our sins, and seek forgiveness from God.

We build up each other (it's called edification) and strengthen our connection together as a family in the Lord.

Yes, we may be feeling vulnerable, but we can also learn from one another and lean on each other.

The value of prayer should never be underestimated.  The love that our Saviour, Jesus Christ, has for us, should never be diminished.  We need to value one another and value the privilege of the opportunity to pray together.