We have several times of corporate prayer during our regular meetings. The first part of the meeting is almost entirely corporate prayer, but we also have a definite, specific period set aside for 'the prayers' of petition and supplication. (The prayers in the early part of the meeting are more worship-oriented.)
As part of our corporate prayer time, we begin with a call to prayer, using passages from Hebrews about 'let us boldly come before the throne of grace' etc.
We then pray the 'Our Father' aka 'the Lord's Prayer' together (Jesus did after all say 'when you pray SAY...'). This will lead into a short psalm verse 'Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me, for my soul trusts in Thee'. Then we pray
Psalm 25 together. (Why pray
Psalm 25 together as a congregation? Well, we have in
Acts 4 the example of the apostolic church using psalms in corporate prayer, the Psalms are called 'the prayers of David' and thus are prayers as well as hymns, and most hymns sung corporately in any church are in fact nothing less than sung prayers.
Psalm 25 is an excellent prayer, and gives everyone present an opportunity to pray for just about any need they have:
To thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul.
O my God, in thee have I trusted. Let me not be ashamed, neither let my enemies triumph over me. For none who wait on thee shall be ashamed; let them be ashamed which transgress without cause. Show me thy ways, O Lord, and teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me, for thou art God my Saviour, and on thee do I wait all the day. Remember thy compassions, O Lord, and thy mercies, for they are from everlasting. The sins of my youth, and of my ignorance, remember not. Remember me according to thy mercy, for the sake of thy goodness, O Lord.
Good and upright is the Lord, therefore as the Lawgiver he will instruct sinners in the Way. The meek will he guide in judgement, the meek will he teach his ways. All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth to them that keep his covenant and his testimonies.
For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great.
Who is the man that fears the Lord? He shall instruct him in the way he has chosen. His soul shall dwell in prosperity, and his seed shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant.
My eyes are ever towards the Lord, for he shall draw my feet out of the snare. Look upon me, and have mercy upon me, for I am desolate and poor. The afflictions of my heart are multiplied, deliver me from my distresses. Look upon my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins. Consider my enemies, for they are many, and they have hated me with cruel hatred. O keep my soul and deliver me; let me not be ashamed for I have hoped in thee. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I have waited for thee, O Lord. Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his afflictions. )
Following this, someone will lead a 'litany' (for lack of a better word) of supplications and petitions, generally following this basic outline (and yes, we all pray aloud, the leader simply calls out the particular subject or persons to be prayed for):
1. Giving praise to God and thanks for His mercy and goodness.
2. Petition for the Lord to bless us with His Spirit and His presence, extend mercy and forgiveness to us, and accept our offerings and praises.
3. Petition for God to bless and be with all who walk in the faith wherever they may be.
4. Petition for protection and grace to be given to those who are persecuted for the gospel.
5. Petition for the 'church of God gathered in this place' to meet our spiritual and physical needs, protect us, keep us healthy, and give us peace.
An announcement is made 'if anyone has a need and desires to be prayed for let it be known'. This is when individual prayer requests are made for the church to pray for, we do them one at a time - one request, then we all pray, followed by the next request, then we all pray, etc until all requests have been prayed for. Anointing with oil, laying on of hands, etc usually take place during this time.
Following that, an announcement is made 'let us bow before the Lord and present our petitions to Him' or something like that. (Yes, we do follow the ancient and biblical practice of 'prostration' in prayer, ie kneeling and bowing in prayer.) This is a time for 'silent prayer' (although it isn't always 'silent'!) for folks to commune privately with God. More on that in a moment.
After that, once everyone has regained their feet, whoever was 'leading' the prayer will finish it with the following petitions:
6. For the lost, for the wicked, for rulers and those in authority, for our community, state, and nation.
7. The prayer list - all the individuals and various churches and ministries we pray for on a regular basis are called out.
8. Thanksgiving and praise.
We will then usually sing the first couple of verses from
Psalm 141 ('Lord, I have cried unto Thee'), then whoever is the reader will read a couple of the following verses from the same Psalm, followed by a corporate praying of
Psalm 130, concluding with thanks to the Lord for hearing our prayers.
We have found this to be an efficient way to 'cover all the bases' without people forgetting to pray for something or someone due to long randomised prayer requests.
*Note regarding the use of
Psalm 25.
Psalm 25 is a rather inclusive prayer, covering numerous areas. Praying the psalm corporately as a body allows everyone an opportunity to pray together for deliverance from the enemies of our souls, to ask for pardon and forgiveness of sins when necessary, for Divine guidance and leading, for divine assistance in perseverance, and for the final redemption of all God's children. In a congregation, especially if there are visitors, there may be a person or persons who need to repent and who need to seek God's forgiveness. In a corporate prayer in which is prayed 'For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great' etc the effect on such persons can be and often is kind of profound - it confronts them in a direct and personal way with their known sins while at the same time offering them the opportunity to 'tell it to the Lord' and get it cleared up. There are people, believe it or not, in churches - whether members or visitors - who sit through the service wrestling with guilt and conviction and who are kind of 'stuck' in that place. Waiting for the end of the meeting for an altar call (that may or may not come!) can sometimes exacerbate their situation. Not saying altar calls are bad, just saying it's good to 'get right with God' sooner than later. Often, this approach can help overcome the reticence that some have to an end of meeting altar service because they have already been 'softened up' by admitting their general guilt to God and asking for His mercy. And so they may be more ready and willing to get down to business with God on the specifics, so to say. And we feel it is a good thing to include in our corporate prayer times opportunities for such things to happen. You never know what people are going through. Besides, praying the Psalm is a 'teaching moment' as well, since one learns from the Psalm that God is indeed merciful and can be approached, and furthermore that He will indeed 'instruct sinners in the way' and that 'the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.'
*Note regarding silent prayer.
While loud, vocal, Pentecostal prayer is a good, Biblical thing, there is also a time for quiet, personal prayer. Everyone should have an opportunity to get quiet with God and present their private petitions to Him. Kind of like putting your own personal piece of incense in the censer that the angel is going to present before the throne of God -
Rev 8:3.
*Note on our use of
Psalm 141.
Here is the part we sing:
Lord, I have cried unto thee, hear thou me. Give ear to the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
Then whoever is leading the prayers recites the following verses from the psalm:
Set a watch O Lord before my mouth, keep the door of my lips. Incline not my heart unto any evil thing, to practice wicked works with them that work iniquity. Let me not be joined with their chosen. The righteous shall chasten me with mercy and reprove me, but let not the oil of the sinner anoint my head, for yet this shall be my prayer.
The translation is a free translation using both the Hebrew and Septuagint Greek. The Psalm is admittedly one of the most difficult psalms to translate, and the version we follow happens to coincide very closely to the version used by Romanians who use the Greek Bible.
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