Four Reasons to Go to Prayer Meeting

We don’t need reasons not to go our church’s monthly prayer meeting. We all have more than enough of those: we are busy, we think it will be too difficult with the kids, it is cold and dark and we don’t feel like going out again, we have an early appointment the next day, we are afraid of being asked to pray in front of others (which will not happen, by the way!), and so on.

Since we have many reasons—and often legitimate ones at that—to skip out on the prayer meeting, what we could benefit from instead is a few reasons to argue in favor of going. At the start of a new year, I thought it might be worth thinking upon some of these in the hopes of creating a new habit. Think on these four reasons, and maybe they will help motivate you to carve out the time and get you out the door this month.

It makes God smile
Life doesn’t come with an instruction manual with directions for every decision we face. We spend the majority of our time navigating the nebulous gray of life, relying on wisdom from above. How satisfying it is, however, when we can know for certain we are doing something that pleases God and meets with His approval. In a week filled with numerous choices that we may look back on and question, we never need doubt if God is pleased with the time we give to prayer with His people (1 Peter 3:12).

It strengthens our faith
Hearing others pray has a way of inspiring us and bolstering our own trust in the promises of God. In his book Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer explains that “God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of a man … the Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain, his brother’s is sure.” I have often felt like doing anything but pray when prayer meeting rolls around, but God then works through the imperfect petitions of another dear saint to awake me out of spiritual slumber and fill me with confidence again in His good sovereignty. Whereas, left to ourselves, we may be prone to doubt God’s ability or grow discouraged in our faith, to see that faith alive in the prayer of another reminds us that we are believing no fantasy, but a God who is real, powerful, and good.

The church needs it
The Apostle Paul knew his own need and was not shy to make it known to the church, fully expecting that they would keep him uplifted before the Lord in earnest petition (Eph. 6:19, 1 Thes. 5:25, 2 Thes. 3:1). Paul was confident that the prayers of God’s people would sustain him through the rigors of ministry and the trials of life. Why should we presume to find success apart from that same intercession of the saints?

It works
Most importantly, let’s remember that prayer is no empty exercise in religious ritual. When we come to God in faith, we actually tap into cosmic power (1 John 5:14–15). God is pleased to work out His eternal will as an answer to the prayers of people like you and me—what a thought (James 5:17)! God offers healing, encouragement, growth in spiritual virtues, and success in ministry all as a gracious answer to earnest prayer. This means that attending your church’s prayer meeting is never—never—a waste of time. If for no other reason, because prayer works it is worth it.

–Pastor Cruse