Elder Chew Chong Kiat

Why Prayer Meeting?

Ac 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

The church of the Lord Jesus, after His ascension, was wont to gather to pray. It is upon this good tradition and example that we too, in our busy society, find it expedient to gather every Tuesday evening to pray corporately as a church.

Christ is the Head of the church who alone can energise His church to do His work on this earth. We are only instruments and vessels and unless He works, we can do no profitable work, for without Him we can do nothing (Joh 15:5). The church that prays not cannot expect God’s blessings and cannot do God’s work. All that are done are the work of man, and no glory can be given to God except to man. Also, the church that prays not gets not, for the church that seeks, finds (Mt 7:8), and to her that has no strength, God’s strength is made perfect (2Cor 12:9). How then can a church be said to be a church of God if she prays not in all things? How can a church do God’s work without prayer meetings? However, some may argue that we can pray privately and there is no need to gather on a regular basis.

Let us look at the examples of the praying church in Acts of the Apostles and the wonderful benefits to that church. I pray that you will be convinced to come and pray every Tuesday evening with God's people from 8.15 to 9.30 pm.

1) Praying Together Encourages the Soul. Our text in Acts 1:14 tells us that the church gathered to pray. Their Lord had just ascended into heaven and the church felt for the first time bereaved of their Shepherd who was their guide, keeper and defender. They took to prayer and continued in the same in one heart, making their requests known to God. And they found daily grace that they needed. Let us learn, therefore, in moments when we feel unsupported, to turn in prayer to God and experience His divine help and sustenance. Their praying together encouraged each other to look to God. Likewise, when we are afflicted and discouraged, praying together with likeminded brethren reminds us that we are not alone and that we can identify with the common afflictions of fellow pilgrims. O what encouragement it is to a discouraged soul!

2) Praying Together Empowers the Church. The church gathered according to the promise of God to wait for the power of God from on high to be bestowed upon them (Acts 1:4-5). Acts 2:1 "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place." Our powerful God strengthened this band of witnesses to go forth to bring the gospel, not just to those in Jerusalem but to Samaria and to the uttermost part of the world (Acts 1:8). It is amazing to see how God used simple and mostly unlearned folks to shake the world and magnify His might and wisdom through them, that all glory may be due to Him and Him alone (1Cor 1:26-28). How they were used by God to give us the New Testament Scriptures, how they testified boldly even before kings, how they stood steadfast even unto death and how many thousands confessed the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour through their preaching! Do we not need the same power today? Or are we leaning on our wisdom and might that we see little need for that divine might that God promised the church today to do His will? The way the church views her prayer meeting will tell us how much she leans on the power of God. Do we really believe in the power of the Holy Spirit? If we do, we should be at the prayer meeting! It is not just another prayer meeting or only a prayer meeting. It is the appointed meeting to pray for the power for the church to do His bidding. Without the power of the Holy Spirit, the church is dead and useless. We need to gather together and pray believing and steadfastly looking to God for His promise to grant us the power to obey and to do.

3) Praying Together Protects from Persecutions. The third recorded occasion that the church gathered to pray was when they were persecuted, in Acts 4. Apostles Peter and John were arrested for preaching in the name of Christ after they healed a man who was lame from birth. But the Council, seeing the crowd and how undoubtedly the lame man was healed, decided to release Peter and John after threatening them to stop teaching and preaching in the name of Jesus. The persecuted church, after hearing the recount from Peter and John, prayed. And God filled the church with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the more with great boldness in the name of Christ and the multitude (over five thousand) who believed were of one heart and soul (v32). Persecutions are sent by God to drive us to pray. Calvary Pandan does not appear to be under attack now. But be not deceived. Unknown to most members, there have been attacks mounted within and without that can diminish our testimony. Consider the role that Pandan plays today in contending for the faith; you can be sure that we are one of the prime targets of the Devil. By the grace of God and in His grace alone, Pandan is blessed to have our own building, the many ministries to cater to the various needs of worshippers and members. We are blessed to have full time pastors and preachers and to have a pulpit ministry that feeds the flock both within and outside the church through the web broadcast and the SGH. We are privileged to support mission work in Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Australia and Africa. Many smaller churches look to Pandan for spiritual support. Surely, the Evil one is not going to stand still and see the Lord’s vineyard prosper. But how shall we advance the work in the face of such a great and insidious foe? Thanks be to God that we can have the victory through Christ Jesus the Lord! But the church must pray as one.

4) Praying Together Brings Deliverance. Then we come to Acts 12 when the Apostle Peter was arrested, put in chains and soon to be executed by Herod who sought to please the Jews. Acts 12:5 "Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him." Prayer here means instant and earnest prayer. There was no time to be lost – the church immediately gathered together to pray and did not just engage in private prayer. How God worked for them and mightily delivered Peter! He was bound with chains between two soldiers, with soldiers guarding at the doors. God sent His angels to lead him out through the four layers of doors. By God’s will, no doors can be secured against the power of prayer! When an individual is afflicted, he prays and asks the church to intercede on his behalf. And if it is God’s will, God will grant. God graciously spared some lives through the prayers of the saints at prayer meetings. And just as not all suffering saints are delivered from prison, so not all are healed of their infirmities according to His will. The value of the prayer meeting is not only in the deliverance and healing, which God can grant and still does today. The value is in the granting of His all-sufficient-grace in sustaining the afflicted through that trial for His glory so that God's children may be strengthened in their faith. It is good to request the church to pray for our individual needs, but it is better if we come and pray for others as well as for ourselves. The prayer meeting is a wonderful opportunity for the church to show real care by praying for one another.

5) Praying Together Provides for Missionary Work. The next recorded gathering of the saints to pray is in Acts 13. God revealed to the church a missionary need (v2). The church fasted and prayed and laid hands on Paul and Barnabas and sent them away (v3). If the church prays more for the needs of the mission fields, God will provide. Quite often we spend more time on the mechanics of mission – the building, programme, funding and men needed, and we forget to pray or we pray not as we ought to. If only we pray as much, God would work for us and provide all we need and open doors that cannot be shut (Rev 3:8). How we need labourers today but so few are truly called and equipped for the work. We do well to take heed to God’s word in Lu 10:2 "The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest." How blessed is the church to have these labourers! How famished of these men are the churches today! Let us pray together urgently to the Lord of the harvest. Let us also pray that those who are called will not only be equipped and schooled in the school of the Holy Spirit and not just in academic knowledge, but that they will be so full of the Holy Ghost that the church will be richly revived through them. Are there any more John Sungs, Spurgeons and Whitefields today? May God send them to the lethargic churches.

6) Praying Together Seeds Evangelical Efforts. Then in Acts 16, we see a church founded by Paul in the midst of a praying people. If we hope for a church to be started in a city or a village, we must gather the saints to pray. Who knows? God might send a ‘Paul’, just as He did through the praying group to start the first Christian service in Europe. Every Christian ministry should always start with a praying group. Who knows what God will do with a praying band of His people?

These six accounts in Acts demonstrate beyond measure the value of the prayer meeting. The infant church in Acts was a church militant that took to "all prayer" (Eph 6:18) seriously and was thus victorious and blessed richly. May Calvary Pandan BPC be a praying church too. May God revive our prayer meetings. And for that to happen, we must renew our minds and begin to see the centrality of the prayer meeting in the church programme today. Let us come together to seek God’s blessings for His church today. See you on Tuesday nights at 8.15 p.m.