Let me just come right out and say it: I believe there’s a problem with prayer meeting. Not in all churches. But in most churches I’ve been in. And possibly in your church, as well.
The problem is this.
We have allowed our prayer times to become disproportionately dominated by health concerns.
We pray for sick people—as we ought—but to the point of minimizing other critical issues: revival, repentance, the salvation of lost people. Some of these elements are present in some prayer meetings…but they get a comparatively small piece of the prayer pie.
I’m all for praying for the sick. It’s biblical. We’re commanded to do it.
But so is praying for those that have the rule over you.
So is praying for lost people.
So is praying for spiritual growth.
So is praying for persecuted brothers and sisters around the globe.
And if you were to pie chart most of the prayer meetings we’ve ever attended, I’m pretty sure half or more of our prayer time —is devoted to our focus on health issues.
Though He compassionately cared for the sick, this was not Jesus primary focus—nor should it be ours. Jesus said He came to seek and to save the lost…
It’s human nature to be most concerned about those things that feel most pressing to us. And when a child is running a high fever three days in a row, it FEELS like a much more compelling prayer request than asking God to deliver our nation from evil.
But it’s time to put more of a prayer emphasis on the things that Christ emphasized in prayer. That doesn’t mean we stop praying for the sick. But it DOES mean the issues on God’s heart must sit heavier on our hearts. For what else should they be beating?