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Pray Together . . . And God Will Move |
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Stephen G. Willis
This morning the alarm went off extremely early. I couldn’t believe it was already 5:15 a.m.; yet another Tuesday morning of rising early in order to attend our Men’s prayer group (Lynchburg First Church of the Nazarene). I often struggle with getting up this early but in the depths of my soul I realize that the reason for the early alarm is the key to it all.
Nearly a year ago I had the opportunity to read Daniel Henderson’s book Fresh Encounters in which he states, “If pastors would mobilize their people to pray, the world would be transformed.” The true simplicity of this statement and the power that came with it awakened something deep in my soul.
I was reminded of the day I answered the call to follow God in full-time ministry. I went with the motivation to see lives transformed, which would result in a transformed world. After reading Fresh Encounters and attending Daniel Henderson’s seminar I knew that things had to change in the ministry that I had been commissioned to lead. It was time to break free from the restraints of religion and focus our ministry and people on the freedom of seeking God in relationship through a lifestyle of worship-based prayer.
The first significant change began with me and my leadership team. We began to see the significance of making prayer the activity that would lead the way instead of one of many activities that always jockeyed for position. Prayer became our focal point and it has been evident that things have changed as a result.
We came to realize that when you fail to plan you plan to fail, so we made prayer a priority in our church schedule. On a weekly basis at LFCN we have a Tuesday morning men’s prayer group, a Wednesday evening worship-based prayer group, and an intercessory prayer meeting on Saturday mornings. Those people who choose to be a part of these prayer groups are the life line for our local ministry to see God’s church become all that He wants it to be. Just recently my intercessory prayer coordinator approached me and said, “I knew that Sunday’s service was going to be powerful simply because of our Saturday morning prayer time. I left convinced God was going to do a big thing.” She was right. On that particular Sunday morning the presence of God settled down in a tremendous way. People came to an altar of prayer seeking forgiveness and freedom from sin and the circumstances that hinder them.
In the 50 year history of our local ministry we are more committed to prayer than ever—especially praying together. As a result the last six years have been spent adjusting and reacting to the amazing increases that have come from God’s favor.
I don’t write this article as one who has arrived in prayer. As a matter of fact, I feel a twinge of guilt recognizing that I still often cheat my ministry and my God by not spending more time with my Creator who desires intimacy with me more than anything. However, I believe that I am at a place in my life that I can testify that prayer need not be a cliché that the church talks about in order to be more spiritual, but rather an activity that surrounds and saturates every facet of our lives and ministry.
This past Easter LFCN joined 12 other churches for an extremely powerful partnership entitled 50 Days of Unbroken Prayer. We, along with the other churches of different denominations, partnered together to rent a hotel room overlooking the Lynchburg community. The room was transformed into a prayer labyrinth. It was open to the public, and manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday. The prayer partnership climaxed with a tremendously powerful worship service that brought all the churches together. This coming year we are hoping to increase this effort to add additional rooms with 40 churches participating. I discovered by participating in this event that God not only wants my church to be a praying church, he desires that I include others. Unity and corporate prayer are the critical keys to accomplishing our purpose. Our prayer effort must extend past the individual walls of our own ministry….it’s time to unite as the bride of Christ in order to accomplish God’s purpose in our local communities and beyond.
So what is our purpose? Our purpose should simply be the business of life transformation. Life transformation only takes place when people experience the manifest presence of Almighty God. He alone is the life changer. At Lynchburg Nazarene we are recommitting ourselves to simplicity. We are determined to lead and teach our people the power of seeking the face of God through worship-based prayer. Our church schedule no longer makes prayer a buffet choice for our people. This happened when we chose to pray--together.
Praying! Believing! Becoming!
Stephen Willis is the senior pastor of Lynchburg Church of the Nazarene, Lynchburg, Virginia. In the past six years LFCN has more than quadrupled in size. Miraculous growth that is attributed to God’s moving through the increased corporate prayer.
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January 2008