There’s no question about it. When God’s people come together, their prayer power is multiplied. Each individual contributing his or her unique supply of the Spirit creates a supernatural dynamo that can do things no lone pray-er could ever do.
Truly it can be said of a corporate prayer group that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Think of it this way and you’ll see why that is.
Imagine that I wanted to move the grand piano in our church sanctuary. I would have a hard time getting that job done by myself, wouldn’t I? I might be able to move it an inch at a time but I wouldn’t get it very far.
If I got a big group of people together, however, and distributed them evenly around the piano so that each one was carrying just a portion of the weight, moving the piano would be much easier.
That’s exactly the way it is in prayer. When we get together and yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit, the different aspects of God’s anointing that we carry combine and enable us to do heavier lifting. As we collaborate in the spirit and work as a team, the weight of a prayer project is distributed among us. The corporate anointing makes impossible things possible and hard things easy.
The members of the early Church discovered that early on. That’s why:
• The first gathering of the Church in Jerusalem was a corporate prayer meeting (Acts 1:14).
• The new believers who were added to the church on the day of Pentecost prayed together daily (Acts 2:42, 46).
• Peter and John went to the temple (most likely on a regular basis) at three o’clock in the afternoon for corporate prayer (Acts 3:1).
• At the first sign of trouble, the apostles held a prayer meeting (Acts 4:23 –31).
• When Peter was put in jail, the Church responded by getting together to pray (Acts chapter 12).
When you think about how much those early Christians prayed together, it’s no surprise they were able to turn the world upside down for Jesus. They knew how to garner the spiritual muscle to do it.
They didn’t try to advance the kingdom of God all by themselves one inch at a time. They moved things quickly and effectively with the power of divine collaboration. They got together and prayed!
Scripture Reading: Acts 2:42 – 47
On the chilly March night in 1972 when Lynne Hammond took her first step into a life of Spirit-led prayer, she had no idea what was about to happen. All she knew was the hunger in her heart for God wouldn’t let her sleep. In the few short months she’d been born again, her desire to fellowship with Him had grown so strong she could hardly contain it. “Help me, God!” she cried. “I want to know you. I want to be able to talk to you. Please, teach me to pray!”
Suddenly, a heavenly presence flooded the room. Lynne sensed waves of spiritual fire sweeping over her and a beautiful language began to flow like a river from within her. Although she’d never heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, she knew instantly, without a doubt—this was God!
What began that night soon blossomed into a life of prayer that ultimately became a ministry of prayer when, in 1980, Lynne and her husband, Mac, founded Living Word Christian Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Under Lynne’s leadership, the prayer ministry at Living Word has become an internationally recognized model for developing effective pray-ers in the local church.
A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”