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Effective Prayer Ministry:
Prepare Others to Join You
 | If you are going to have an effective prayer ministry, whether it be personal, with a prayer partner(s), or corporately in the church, you need the following: |
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When you understand and practice the above elements in prayer, then you are ready to:
It is then that you will begin to see an increase in participation and the development of a passion within others to meet with God through prayer resulting in praise to our Lord.
How to Prepare Others to Join You
So, you've planned your strategy for an effective corporate prayer life. Before implementing your plan, you need to prepare the people. God Himself provides us with the precedence for doing this.
He determined His course of action and sent the prophets to tell the people what to expect. God planned salvation through Jesus, prophesied about Him throughout the Old Testament, and yet still took the time for a special season of preparation before Jesus actually began His ministry here on earth. John the Baptist's primary mission in life was to "prepare the way for the Lord." Even in salvation, rarely do people accept Jesus as Savior when they hear about Him for the first time. Before that new life sprouts within them, their hearts are prepared by the planting and watering of the seed.
If God employs this measure with us to get us ready for a work He is about to do, certainly we should not skip this part of the process.
(1) Verbally communicate about prayer:
- teaching from the pulpit
- teaching in classes and small groups
- talking about it in one-on-one discipleship
- suggesting or providing personal devotional guides on prayer
- suggesting or providing books on prayer
- writing about it in a newsletter, the bulletin, or other forms of communication
(2) Cultivate an atmosphere conducive to praying:
Be devoted to prayer. Make the elements vital to this kind of an atmosphere a normal part of people's experience within the Body.
(3) Show by example:
The impact of modeling an effective prayer life is seen in the life of Christ. After observing the priority and passion Jesus had in spending time with the Father, one of His disciples initiated a request to learn to pray. "One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray" (Lk. 11:1).
(4) Connect with people's motivations:
Motivation for praying, or anything we do, ought to be our love for God. Realistically, though, many Christians continue to be motivated more by that which is influenced by needs, background, or personality. Connect with their existing motivations and move them toward where they ought to be. Remember, though, that people are at different places so a one size fits all approach probably will not work.
- For those motivated by personal achievement, help them see the benefits or results of prayer. Point them to a faithful and powerful God who will not only hear but answer their prayers.
- For those motivated by social interaction or popularity, help them see the potential of praying with others. Point them to a loving God who wants them to pray as a means of relating with Him.
- For those motivated by perfectionism and order, help them see the tools they can use to put structure into their prayer lives. Point them to a perfect and sovereign God who will answer prayer in the right timing and in the right ways.
- For those motivated by approval or the need to please others, help them see that God is pleased when they pray. Point them to a gracious God who understands their weaknesses and helps them pray.
Whether their motivation is right or wrong, that is what will drive them to do what they do. Your task will be to take that drive in the right direction. Correct motivations will come as they gain a better understanding and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus.
How long the preparation process will take is going to depend on where you need to begin. Obviously you cannot wait until everyone is where they ought to be to start implementing your strategy. The key is to get people moving in that direction and when they get to where they ought to be, have something in place so all they must do is join in.
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