The Bible gives guidelines for a prayer meeting. In reality, since the church, the house of God, the people of God, are called the house of prayer, prayer should be first and foremost in the church meeting so that the church meeting issues from prayer.
Prayer is to be first, and in prayer, worship is to be first. In Jesus’ guide on how to pray in Matthew 6: 9, He put worship to God first— “Hallowed by thy name.” With this first, we see Paul telling Timothy in 1 Timothy 2: 1 that “first of all” there should be “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks” for all people. We see here that all the aspects of prayer are plural. So, there are to be different kinds of supplications, different ways of praying, multiple kinds of intercessions and abundance of giving of thanks, and all this for all people. The prayer/church meeting is to be a diverse operation of the Spirit of God.
We also see how prayer under the direction of the Spirit activates the armor of God for the defense and strength of the warrior of the Lord. Ephesians 6: 18 says “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” Prayer under the direction of the Spirit activates the armor of God. The armor of God consists of spiritual components in our life that operate by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. As we pray by the inspiration of the Spirit, we become an active warrior carrying out the will of God by the power of God.
Putting on the armor is more than just having a mental picture of each piece and an assent to and confession of possessing each piece of the armor. Putting on the armor is fellowship with the Father, Son, and Spirit through prayer and hearing from God. God’s Spirit, Word and presence are our armor. It operates by prayer, all kinds of prayer—prayers with our known language, prayers in our unknown tongue, and prayers of the groanings from our spirit man, quiet prayers, loud prayers, and tearful prayers—however the Spirit leads is the way we are to pray. The main thing is to give place to and yield to the Spirit. It is through worship that we can enter into this place of the holy presence of God. By the eternal blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ and His righteousness imputed to us, we can enter into this place with God with all boldness and liberty. Hebrews 10: 19-23
We should not be afraid to open our mouth boldly and loudly and release the prayers of our heart in our known language or in our unknown language. We are in a prayer meeting! It is time to pray! It is not for show or shame! It the time to pour our heart out to God. In James 5: 16 it says, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” This is praying from your heart to God’s heart. This kind of praying avails much.
Being liberated in worship to God and in true prayer brings revelation. Pen and paper, or some kind of recording device, needs to be handy in every true prayer meeting. (Somebody taking notes is how we got the Bible). Prayer inspired by the Spirit opens the heavens, the Spirit realm, so revelation flows like a river. 1 Corinthians 14: 26 says, “How is it then, brethren? When you come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.” Paul was talking to a Spirit-filled church in which tongues, prophecy and other manifestations of the Spirit were in operation, including, revelation.
God is not trying to hide anything from us. He wants to reveal by the Spirit what no fleshly eyes have seen, even the deep things of God. 1 Corinthians 2: 12 tells us that He wants us to know the things “that are freely given to us of God.”
God so graciously works within the abilities and understanding that we have. That is good. We see some results. But there is always more. When we shift from the limitation of our abilities and understanding into the unlimited realm of the Spirit, we enter the realm of “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” spoken of in Ephesians 3:20. This is the kind of prayer and ministry realm that Jesus and the early church lived in. This realm is what God desires for us to enter into and dwell.
God is a big God, and He wants us to pray big by the Spirit. Zerubbabel was to build the house of God, but it was not going to be built by the might or power of man’s understanding and ability. It was going to be built by the Spirit of God flowing with a continuous supply of the golden anointing oil of God through His people. This anointing comes by believing prayer inspired by the Spirit of God and by our yielding to the promptings and guidance of that same Spirit.
Being born again, baptized in the fire of the Spirit, and being led by that same Spirit—this is the simplicity of God’s program for the church today. It is simply following the Lord Jesus Christ. It commences, continues and consummates by all kinds of prayer inspired by the Spirit of God. The key is to get into that place in the Spirit so the golden oil of God flows freely. From this will be abundant fruitfulness in doing the same works of Jesus, and more. Zechariah 4; John 14: 12-14
