I have decided to keep writing about the various aspects of our Sunday morning worship gatherings, in hopes of providing some continuity and normalcy in a time when everything is anything but normal. And, also because I'm tired of talking about COVID-19/Coronavirus. That said, the aspect of our Sunday worship gathering that we are focusing this week is our time of prayer as a church. I hope this is helpful for you and encourage you to an increased devotion to prayer during this season when we cannot gather together.
If you have been around The Village Church from the beginning, you know that we have always believed the church is to be a church of prayer. We have taken time nearly each Sunday that we have gathered to join our hearts and minds together as one body before the Lord in prayer. We do this because Acts 2:42 says that the early believers were devoted to prayer. In many churches, this moment in the worship service is referred to as "Pastoral Prayer." Now those two words could be taken wrong, so let us understand what is meant here. Pastoral Prayer does not mean that it is my prayer or that I am the only one that can pray during that time. A pastor is called, in Ephesians 4:12, "to equip the saints for the work of ministry." I take my role to train you biblically very seriously, but my role in equipping you does not end there. I must also model biblical things practically and help you learn how to put biblical things into practical use in your life. So Pastoral Prayer becomes a moment of instruction as well as prayer. One of the most common reasons people don't engage in a life of prayer is because they don't know how. Our prayer time on Sunday is instructional since it is modeling how to pray and what things can/should be prayed for in your personal life. I normally list out verse after verse supporting biblically why we do what is being talked about. The fact is, there is no way I could grasp the length the Bible goes to in calling us, as a church, to prayer. I learned the acronym P.R.A.Y. years ago from another pastor that I worked with, and it has helped me and stuck with me ever since. It stands for Praise-Repent-Ask-Yield and is taken from Matthew 6:9-13 where Jesus teaches us how to pray. It's also the model that we use to guide our prayer on Sunday morning. When we pray, we first PRAISE God for who he is because Jesus taught us to pray, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name." We REPENT/CONFESS sin, because Jesus taught us to pray, "forgive us our debts" and Psalm 66:18 also shows us that sin hinders our prayers to God. We ASK/PETITION God to work and move on our behalf, because Jesus taught us to pray, "give us this day our daily bread...and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil." Above all, we YIELD to God's will, because Jesus taught us to pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." We surrender everything we have prayed for, everything we hope for to God's will, knowing that in his love for those who are his, he graciously acts. I hope this will give you a new perspective into our Sunday morning prayer time! I'd also like to encourage you to join the Wednesday night prayer meeting that takes place in mine and Jacquline's home. We must be a people of prayer. Prayer has always been integral to the life of God's people, and in these uncertain times when we can't gather together we must be all the more diligent in prayer.
Grace & Peace,
John
(You can reach Pastor John at jwhite@thevillagemi.com)