Your Growth Group #5, Discover Prayer

Imagine this: Crisis strikes your family. You are unsure how things will turn out, but one thing you do know is that you need the Lord's help. Who do you call for prayer? For some, this may be an easy question. For others, this question draws a blank because you don't have a lot of praying friends or family. 

This scenario is one of the reasons why it is so important for you to be engaged in a growth group. Growth groups provide an opportunity for Christian community, and this involves praying for one another. You will know if you are in a good group if the members take prayer seriously and regularly and fervently pray for one other (and not just during emergencies).

Prayer is talking with God. Prayer is expressing faith. When we pray for each other, we are talking to God for one another. E.M. Bounds says, "Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still." When we pray for one another, we show we love one another because we are asking the Lord of all goodness to bless them from the stores of His grace (James 1:17). 

When we pray together, we are united in faith. Praying for one another and with each other brings us closer together and closer to the Lord. Deep and meaningful friendships form when we are willing to go to the throne of heaven for others and we know that others are going before the Lord for us as well.

My dream for our growth groups is that they would go beyond casual exchanging of prayer requests and short little group prayers and grow to fervent group prayer. Wouldn't it be something to see a group come together in addition to Sunday morning for the purpose of prayer. It would be grand to see group prayers answered and the faith of group members bolstered. 

How can groups grow in prayer? Members have to believe it's powerful and effective. They have to believe it is worthy of their time. Members have to be willing to let down their guard with each other and trust each other. 

If you want to see your growth group grow in prayer, then find like-minded members in the group and talk to your growth group leader to help you form a plan to foster prayer in the group. Before you do even this, pray and ask the Lord to lead you. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Happens to My Tithes and Offerings After I Give?

Image
I am always inspired by the generosity of our church membership! It amazes me that so many people would give so much because they want to see the kingdom of Christ advanced. We want to see our gifts contribute to the spread of the gospel and the fulfillment of the Great Commission. We want to see people trust Jesus as Savior and Lord as we have! To all of our members who give faithfully, thank you for giving to the Lord.  For many of us, we are glad to give, but if we're honest, we have little idea what happens to these gifts after we give them. In this post, I want to demystify the process by which our gifts turn into resources for ministry. Today, I just want to talk only about giving which is applied to the annual budget (a.k.a., undesignated giving). As I've mentioned in other posts, our church is an autonomous and self-governing church. In part, this means church members decide how to apply their gifts toward the ministry of their church. The way that the membership does t
Read more

Your Growth Group #1, The Stage for Spiritual Growth

Image
When I pastored in Colorado, I remember visiting one of the families in our church.  The wife and children were very involved on Sundays and throughout the week. On Sunday mornings, they came early to be a part of Sunday school classes (this was our small group ministry). Then they stayed for the worship service.  The husband, however, never participated with the small group ministry. He never was a part of a Sunday school class. Rather, he came later and joined the family in the large-group worship service. While I was at their home, I asked him, "Have you ever thought of joining a small group?" I'll never forget his response. He said, "No, I'm just not a Sunday School guy."  In the years since this visit and the husband's response, I've met countless people who think that small groups are unnecessary in their Christian lives. I've always been baffled by this. The reason is that the New Testament demonstrates that small groups were clearly and r
Read more