I was up in the night contemplating the prayer life of the church and how much prayer is done daily on a global scale. The hours and numbers of those praying. The energy it represents and how much is happening and also how much for all the effort is not happening. I have just come out of a dynamic prayer meeting which had much heart felt repentance and open confession of lack and need for God to intervene. It was powerful. Why are some prayer meetings so strong and good and then others seem flat?

As I contemplated this in the night I reflected on the early church of Acts. They had both individual prayer and corporate prayer. They also prayed with different types of prayer based on the current moment and need. Theses are thanksgiving, supplication, faith, agreement, intercession, binding and losing, and imprecatory. I have written about these before in my blog post and in my book on imprecatory prayer. They knew which type of prayer was needed for each situation. It was not one fits all. That is the first reason some prayer meetings are good, and others aren’t. We are hitting and missing with our approaches.

I also reflected back to the single focuses of the church in Acts 2:42. To stay in the apostle’s doctrine, prayers (plural) fellowship and breaking of bread. The apostle’s doctrine was to implement the doctrines of Christ and bring forth the Kingdom. It is listed first as a target to hit, then prayers plural is listed as this is a tool to accomplish this. The fellowship or intimacy was with God and each other and able to happen because of the times of prayer.

I then was reminded how they prayed in Acts 4 they prayed for boldness and suddenly the place was shaken and instantly they received boldness. The response was directly tied to the prayer and the prayer was based on advancing the kingdom. They said the one thing they lacked to be effective and cried out in desperation for it. God answered and they were forever changed. The right prayer meeting does not give you relief but produces lasting change. What a powerful prayer meeting. It reminded me of the one we had just had. Our prayer was not about meeting our needs but about shifting us for service.

Jesus said don’t pray for what you need for your father in heaven knows before you ask. Matt 6:8. Then he gives the Lord’s prayer in the next verse. He gives the model for prayer with the emphasis on the Kingdom and the power and the Glory. It seems the personal prayer was for the examination of ourselves and the corporate prayer a defined intention.

In Acts 12 Peter is in prison and the church is praying without ceasing for his release. A specific focus of why the meeting has been called. It was a continuous meeting probably with people in shifts coming and going. The assignment was driving them and the vision of the outcome. When Peter knocks on the door their assignment is completed. The ramifications of this a new season of Spiritual history is about to unfold. The transition from Jerusalem to the world.

Again, in Acts 13 as they were ministering to the Lord the Holy spirit said, and Paul and Barnabas were chosen for an assignment. THEN they prayed before they were sent out. This prayer was for the corporate assignment that had just been spoken by the Holy spirit. It seems the meeting was not so much a prayer meeting seeking direction as it was a meeting of simply ministering to the Lord. The word ministered means to serve the state at your own cost, to do service, to discharge an office.

I have been in all night prayer meetings and after doing it a few times and seeing pillows and sleeping bags come in the door it kind of lost its purpose. In Africa they have asked me if I wanted to call prayer vigil or all-night prayer. I asked the host pastor why? It seemed he felt the anointing was needing empowered by prayer or needed to increase and prayer was the answer. I told the pastor these people are up early and are working all day. They are coming here in the evening and the meetings are running long. This is the third day with one more to go. Why would I put this on the people?

I know every move of God was birthed from prayer. I know nothing moves without prayer. I also know the very much needed times of prayer and have seen the changes that occurred. I’m just saying perhaps our model of prayer, the scheduled structures we have created, and our approaches need to have more of an intentionality about them to make them more of a special moment. I have done this with communion. I only do it when Holy Spirit prompts me to. This makes it hold greater value when we do share communion and takes away the religious pattern and traditions.

Perhaps we should not call prayer meetings on a schedule but schedule them when there is a real need. How many times do people ask,” Are you going to the prayer meeting tonight?” If there is not a sense of urgency in gathering to get answers then why is there a meeting. Are we caught in traditions?

So, what am I trying to say in all of this? I am seeing the direct correlation to not having prayer meetings to have prayer meetings, but they should always have a greater purpose and vision. Something beyond our own selves. They should reflect on the assignments and kingdom advances. They should be part of a flow. To me this is why prayer meetings seem to have low attendances, because these things are not seen. If you reflect on your prayer meetings the most successful were the ones with these elements or the dealing in hearts to be prepared for service. So like spiritual flow in a service, or flow in worship, maybe we need to have a spiritual flow in prayer meetings. Each one seen in the Bible produced an eternal result.