Better Group Prayer
October 1, 1999
DISCIPLESHIP
When our kids were young, it was a big deal just to get them to wait their turn to speak in dinner conversations. When that happened we were pleased, but we still had a long way to go. The conversations, though orderly, were a string of non sequiturs. Dan would go into excruciating detail telling us his dream of the night before. Joel would politely wait his turn to tell us, immediately afterward, that he had a yellow T-shirt in his closet. Andy would sit sucking his fingers, with a faraway look in his eyes, and when his turn came would grunt that he wanted a slingshot for his birthday. Some group prayer meetings are like that. I've often found myself just taking my turn, along with the rest, to say to God the things I want to say, without much thought of what others are praying. Good prayer conversation
Through my wife's involvement in the Mom's In Touch prayer movement, I have learned a method that we call "agree, vector, and build." The method is to listen, really listen, to a person's prayer, and to let it sink into my mind and heart before I move to my particular concerns. Someone may pray for a family member's health, for instance. As I mull over that prayer, I add a kind of "amen" to it, agreeing with it verbally or silently, thus entering more deeply into the concern. Sometimes when I do that, I may find myself moved to add my own prayer, a nuance, to the prayer I heard. Others may do the same, vectoring their prayers and building on the original prayer. It is remarkable the ways we have experienced the leading of the Holy Spirit—not only in how to pray for a matter but in what to do about it after we have. My friend Bob Bakke urges prayer groups to make their prayers short and many. Long, sonorous prayers ...
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