Praying with Your People

Too often prayer is perfunctory or pragmatic. We pray because it is mealtime or bedtime. We pray for the offering so the ushers can walk from the back to the front of the auditorium. We pray at the end of the service so the preacher can slip back to the door and greet folks as they walk out of the sanctuary. We pray when we are in trouble or in need.

Can you remember the last time you sat quietly for an extended period of time and prayed? It happens far too infrequently in my life. Too often I trade in the conversation for the to-do list.

Praying with our people is one of the greatest things we can do as pastors and leaders. It should be a first work and not a last resort. It should be a first thought and not an afterthought. Prayer times should not only be scheduled into our day as a pastor and leader, but they should also be a regularly scheduled part of the body life of the church.

This may make some of you who are very task oriented uneasy, but prayer should be a primary task of the overseers (elders, pastors) of any and all local churches.

Pastor, when you pray—not just for your people, but with them—you are in essence taking them by the hand and leading them into the throne room of the Almighty (Hebrews 10:19). Teach them how to listen in prayer and thus discern God’s will. Teach them the value of prayer even when they don’t seem to have words for their longings (Romans 8:26-27).

When we pray with our people, we enter into the deep places of their lives. We share in their joys and sorrow. And we teach them to enter into the innermost places of one another’s hearts as well. When we give prayer priority in our worship, meetings, counseling, sermon prep, as well as our daily lives, we communicate that our conversation with the Father is an indispensable part of who we are as disciples of Jesus.