A Praying Church, Part 10
May 18, 2023 | by: Dale Thiele | 0 Comments
Posted in: Pastoral Encouragement
In this series of articles, I seek to unpack the teaching of Paul Miller’s new book, A Praying Church, and apply the principles to our church. As we grow in our prayer habits, may we become people of hope in a discouraging world.
Continuing his discussion about “The Art of Praying Together,” Miller gives some more practical guidance for helping a church become a praying church. In addition to starting small and prioritizing time to pray together (last week), Miller commends restoring prayer to Sunday morning and aiming for resurrection hope when praying for problems. Let me highlight some of his points.
Miller states, “In general the death of Wednesday prayer meeting has been accompanied by a weakening of Sunday morning prayer as well” (p. 188). In other words, as the value of prayer is diminished in the weekly worship gathering, the value of prayer will be diminished throughout the life of the church. For instruction and encouragement, Miller draws attention to the practices of the early church. He writes, “The early church believed that corporate prayer joined them to divine power” (p. 189). He then gives some practical points on how a church might elevate the place of prayer in a Sunday worship service (I am happy to say that some of his suggestions are practiced at Oak Hills). He concludes, “When Sunday morning includes time for extended prayer, it fosters a culture of prayer” (p. 190).
When Miller speaks about aiming for resurrection hope, he is aiming to direct prayers towards the promises of God. He grants, “Prayers deal with problems” (p. 198). The challenge with this is when our prayer requests focus on problems God has not promised to alleviate in this life. For example, God has never promised perfect health, nor wealth, nor comfort for his followers in this life. It is not necessarily bad to pray for health and healing from ailments, but if that is all we focus on in our prayers, we are in danger. Miller explains, “Concentrating on evil overwhelms the good. When that happens, we lose hope” (p. 199). And again, he says, “Hearing a litany of low-level medical problems that don’t go away actually breeds doubt about God’s ability to answer prayer” (p. 203).
So Miller offers three steps to help protect against losing hope when praying for problems. First, we should enlarge our heart to the person suffering. This means we should be compassionate with the person who is enduring physical ailment that doesn’t seem to go away.
Second, we should enlarge the sufferer’s heart by praying for the complete person. We ought not merely pray for the relief of pain, but also for the heart and mind and soul of the person. Paul’s prayers in his letters provide examples of how we can pray for the whole person while he or she is suffering. One of my favorites to pray is Colossians 1:11, “May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.”
Third, we should enlarge the sufferer’s vision to other sufferers. A narrow focus on one’s own suffering only intensifies the suffering. Putting one’s suffering in perspective with the suffering of believers across the globe and throughout the ages helps to strengthen one for steadfastness.
As he concludes this chapter, Miller warns, “The problem behind the problem-centered prayer meeting isn’t just a missing resurrection focus; it’s a self-centered focus” (p. 205). The counterbalance to aim for is to let our prayers cling to the promises of God. He has promised joy and peace and hope and steadfastness and patience and soul-satisfying comfort and spiritual power. By turning the attention of our prayers to the resurrection promises, we help our church become a praying church.
