Look again at the Lord’s Prayer. Notice the prayer begins with God – giving Him praise for who He is. But then notice, beginning in verse 11 with the personal requests, it does not use the words “me” or “my”. Instead it uses the words “We”, “Our”, and “Us”.
This is important. In Luke 11, Jesus gave this prayer to His disciples – as a group. And here in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shows the importance of praying together for these concerns.
It is important that we have times of prayer by ourselves, but it is also critically important that we regularly pray together, and seek to apply His word corporately.
Some time ago I realized that I often approached the Scriptures in a me-centered manner. When I opened, for example, the book of Ephesians and begin to read, I would pray, "Lord, help me apply this to my life." It never dawned on me that this book was written to a community of believers, to be applied corporately. Why didn't it occur to me? Because I am an independant man in an independent society, in an independent country that was founded on Independence Day!
But when I look at God Himself, I see incredible community within the Godhead. That's why He calls us to community because it is such a part of His nature. Jesus desires to welcome us into that communion with God. If you don't believe me, (and even if you do) read John 17 and look at Jesus' communion with the Father and His desire to include us in that community. And until we go home to be with the Lord, He tells us "Love one another as I have loved you." Jesus loved His disciples in community.
Community is an essential part of the Christian life. We're not intended to be lone rangers. We're intended to be part of the body. So though many of us pray kingdom prayers on our own, we're truly missing an incredible blessing if we don't pray with other believers about Kingdom concerns.
Prayer prompts and discussion starters:
- Ask God to give you direction as you pray. Listen to Him.
- Ask God to give you a heart for prayer within His community of believers.
- With whom can you pray these things?
- How can we build community in prayer with the members of the local church?
- How can we build community in prayer with missionaries who serve on the mission field?
- How can we build community in prayer with other believers and congregations outside of our immediate famly?
- Click on comments below and record your insights from prayer and the scriptures.
This is so true. This is the reason my husband and I are struggling here so much. We love our church here, but we live so far away from the church members that we only see them about once a week. So it is a struggle because we don't really feel part of this community here. I think that these are things we need to think about when we choose where we move next time : ) I remember taking a Greek class at Wheaton. My Greek professor talked about 1 Corinthians 6:19, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?" She talked about how the "you" in that sentence is plural and is likely referring to the church rather than to individuals. I always grew up hearing that my body is God's temple, so I need to eat right, exercise, etc. But this lesson from my Greek professor gave me a whole knew way of looking at it. We are in it together. And believe me, I've noticed...I hear less from the Holy Spirit when I am out of communion with other believers.
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