Benefits of Corporate Prayers

Corporate prayers is praying to God together with fellow believers. Christians who do not engage in corporate prayers are leaving a lot of victories and blessings unclaimed. In this teaching Pst. Akin speaks on the benefits of corporate prayers.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Do you really, really believe that? That we can, as we are praying today, this place can shake. Do you do you or do you think it's metaphorical? It's not metaphorical. This is the word of God. The place where they were assembled was shaken. Why? Because they were praying in one accord. It was corporate prayer. Here, the ex the in the early church, they were in trouble. They were in trouble, big trouble. Just like we saw, Jehoshaphat was in trouble. What did he do? He called all of Israel together. He called all of Judah together. Let us pray. Let us ask help. Let us seek help from God. Again, the apostles they were in trouble. The religious leaders, they had conspired against them. The religious leaders and the political leaders, the powers that be, they had they had orchestrated the machinery of state against them. They were like, huh, if we don't ask help from God, we are done for. Bible says in verse 31, when they had prayed, this phrase, this phrase, when they had prayed, what does it mean to you? It means that what the Bible is about to report next wouldn't have happened if they did not pray. Are you hearing what I'm saying? Pay attention to the scriptures when you're reading it. He says, when they had prayed, that means what the Bible is about to tell us happened would not have happened if they did not pray. It would not have happened if they did not engage in corporate prayer. The place where they were assembled together was shaken. So this tells us right away that corporate prayer involves a place. Every one of them was filled with the Holy Spirit. Something positive happened to every one of them and that was that was present at that prayer meeting. And I'm praying for you because of your presence in this meeting this morning, something positive will happen in your life. I said, I said something positive will happen in your life in the name of Jesus. So why do we pray like this? Why do we pray like this? Why do we engage in corporate prayer? Why has God decided that one of the key principles that He has laid down for us as New Testament Christians is to engage in corporate prayer? Why? Why is that important? Why should you and I engage in corporate prayer? Number one, corporate prayer is a place set by God for us to move forward. Corporate prayer is what? A place set by God for us to move forward. Yes. So if you are experiencing stagnation, you are expressing some delay, you're expecting you're experiencing certain things that just would not bulge. That you have you have tried everything by your own power. You have even consulted prophets, you have tried everything. Maybe you need to find yourself in the company of believers and address that issue together. Yes, and address that issue. So it's a place where God has designed for us to move forward. Everyone that comes to the place of corporate prayer moves forward. I can guarantee you that everyone who comes to the place of corporate prayer, they move forward. Something happens individually and collectively that propels us forward when we pray together. And I'm praying for you after this meeting, you will move forward in Jesus' name. I said after this meeting, you will move forward in Jesus' name. Number two, corporate prayer is a place to discover individual and corporate purpose, is a place to discover individual and corporate purposes. Acts chapter 13 and verse 1 to 2. Acts chapter 13 and verse 1 to 2. Look at this again. This is recording another session of corporate prayer in the early church. Now, in the church that was at Antioch, that there were certain prophets and teachers. Now, the the account we read in Acts chapter 1 was the church in Jerusalem. That was the church in Jerusalem. Acts chapter 13, verse 1 to 3. This is not telling us that this is the church at Antioch. So the idea of coming together to pray was not alien to them. It was not alien to them. He says, Now at the church in Antioch, there were certain prophets and teachers. And he begins to name them again: Barnabas, Simeon, who was Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manian, who had brought up, who had been brought up with Erod, the Tetarak, and Saul. Verse 2 says, As they ministered to the Lord and what? Fasted. Sounds like something we are doing here today. As they minister to the Lord and fasted. You see, the Holy Spirit said, Now separate to me Banabas and Saul for the work which I have called them to do. In the place of corporate prayer, individual and collective destinies and collective purposes is revealed. In the place of corporate prayer, individual and collective purposes are revealed. So he mentions their name again, Simon, you know, Barnabas. He mentions their names. That is, you have to be present there. Your body, soul, and spirit has to be present there for you to mark register. You know, it mentions their name. And pay attention to the way the Bible starts, Acts chapter 13. There were certain prophets in the church. Look at how he started. He says there were certain prophets in the church. There were certain prophets in the church. But this prophet did not just start prophesying. This prophet did not just start prophesying and just saying, the Lord. No, they didn't do that. They did what? They ministered to the Lord and fasted. They ministered to the Lord and fasted. You know, if it was today's church, you know, and you hear that a prophet is in a place. When they say a prophet is coming to a meeting, that's when you will see many people. Because people are looking for somebody to tell them to reveal their purposes and destinies to them. I don't know if you're hearing what I'm saying. People are looking for somebody, they are looking for a cheap way for somebody to just tell you, thus says the Lord. You know, I've been watching this guy on YouTube. His name is Mike Winger. Mike Winger, and he has been he has been exposing, yeah, he has been exposing some fake prophets. Some fake prophets. People that prophets that will go on Facebook once when they are doing a program like this, they're doing a program, a large program, and they maybe the church posts it as an event on Facebook, and people identify themselves as they'll be coming to the event. These prophets, so-called prophets, they will go, they're data mining. Their prophecies data mining. They will go on the Facebook, see those who have said they are coming, and then look at them, look at their details. So you will come to the pulpit and they will say that, oh, um, Sarah, so and so. Um, I I I hear I hear um well stone lane, western lane. Oh, now you will run out. I will say, oh, I live on Western Lane, oh, oh, I see Elizabeth, I see Elizabeth, oh, oh, oh my my my mother is Elizabeth. How did they get the information? Data mining, Facebook data mining. Because people people are people are drawn to to the mystical, people are drawn to to what looks like oh spookiness and what is supernatural. When you see a prophet coming, when they hear a prophet coming, oh everybody wants to go there into this church. They want somebody to just tell them, oh, this is what you are supposed to do with your life. And many of such people their lives have been derailed because they listened to a fake prophet. They listened to a fake prophet. But that was not the case in the early church. It was corporate prayer that led to the individual discovery of their purposes. It was corporate prayer, it wasn't somebody just shouting, it was individual prayer, it was corporate prayer, rather, that led to the individual discovery of their purposes, not personal prophecies given to given by prophets that were in that place. I don't know if you heard what I'm saying. If a prophet comes to church and everybody will now go and start sitting next to the prophet and say, Oh, this is what I'm going to, this is what I'm going. Hoping that the prophet will say something. Hoping that the prophet will am I relegating the the place of the prophetic gift? No, I am just saying that anything a prophet tells you should be confirmation of what you have heard from God yourself. It should be a confirmation of what you yourself have heard from God. It should not be strange to you. It should not be strange to you. You see, so in the early church, corporate prayer led to the discovery of their individual purposes, separate unto me, who Paul and Barnabas for the work which I have called them to do. Paul and Bannabas did not did not did not consult, you know, private prophets. Let me say this again. If you consult, if you are consulting private prophet prophets, you you can't um usually you leave that place with something that you did not take, you did not go there with. You know, you leave that place with something you did not go there with. And this is very instructive for parents. Very, very instructive for parents. Don't consult mediums for yourself or for your children. You are you are exposing that child. And if you know that your parents has consulted mediums, has consult whether mediums or whether some fake prophets, some charlatans, and they've asked them to do certain things either for you or for some or for somebody that you know or for yourself, you have to reverse that thing. You have to pray about that thing. If you know, if you are aware that your mother or your father they've consulted certain things, certain mediums, maybe because of you or because of themselves, they have implicated you. They have implicated you, they have implicated you. You must you must fight to to extricate yourself from that thing. You must fight to excrete excrete yourself to remove yourself. I should stop speaking big English. You know, you must you must fight to get yourself out of that thing, you know, because when you do that, you expose yourself, you expose yourself to demonic powers. So we don't do that, but we minister to the Lord and we fast and we expect God to speak. Yes, as we're ministering to the Lord today, expect God to speak. That's why we're gonna have a time of meditative prayers, we're gonna have 15 minutes where we're not going to be just you and God meditating, meditating contemplating on things and listening for the art of God. You see, listening for what He's gonna say to you, meditating on it. So, why do we do corporate prayer? We do corporate prayer because it is designed by God to do what? Move us forward. Number two, corporate prayer is where individual and collective destinies and collective purposes are what? Discovered. Number three, corporate prayer allows you and I to receive encouragement, inspiration, and impartation. Corporate prayer allows you and I to receive encouragement, inspiration, and impartation. Encouragement because the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 27, verse 17, Proverbs 27, verse 17, the Bible says, as iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the continence of his friend. As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the continence of his friend. So you are encouraged. As you see somebody pressing into God, you see somebody laboring in the place of prayer, you see somebody groaning, you see, you see somebody travailing, trying to birth something, trying to birth their destiny. You are encouraged, you're encouraged. By the way, I'm I'm I'm preparing for a marathon. I'm I'm I'm I'm training for a marathon, you know, and you know, you if you are training for you can't train for a marathon alone. You can't train for a marathon alone. Well, maybe some people, but your first marathon, you can't train for it alone, you can't because by then you run five miles, you are like, no, I'm not I'm not cut out for this. But guess what? Me that I could not run, I've run, I've run 40 miles non-stop. Now I can run 14 miles non-stop. I can run 13 miles non-stop. Wow, because I'm running with people, because I'm gaining encouragement, I'm gaining, I'm drawing energy from them. I'm like, let this old man, this 60-year-old man is not stopping. Me too, I can't stop. This 60-year-old man is is still uh no, I uh no, I can't be the last one, you know. So you gain encouragement, you are inspired when you are in the group, when you are when you're praying corporately, you gain encouragement, you gain encouragement when you are praying together with other people. Some things are harder to push alone, some projects, some prayer projects are harder to push alone. Listen to what I'm telling you. Some prayer projects are hard, too hard for you to push alone. You need to put yourself in the context of corporate prayer for you to advance in in those things. So we receive impartation of the spirit of grace and supplication as well in the place of corporate prayer. So we said corporate prayer is designed by God to move us forward. Corporate prayer is designed by God to reveal our individual and collective purposes, and corporate prayer is designed by God to help us to tap into inspiration, encouragement, and impartation. Number four, corporate prayer enables you and I to get personal and corporate answers to our prayers. Corporate prayer allows you and I to get personal and corporate answers to our prayers. Acts chapter 12 and verse 5. Acts chapter 12 and verse 5. Somebody please read. Yes, constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. Constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. The question that comes to my mind is who is praying for you? Who is praying for you? Do you have people praying for you? You know, do you have people praying really praying for you? Really praying that that's that situation that you are faced with is going to melt and and be destroyed. You need people praying for you. You need somebody. The church did not complain here. They put Peter in prison. The church did not complain, they gathered together and they prayed. When we come together to pray, we're able to take personal issues and crack them in the place of prayer. When we come together to pray, we're able to take personal issues and crack them in the place of prayer. You may not be able to solve those issues on your on your own. You may not be able to generate the requisite spiritual energy. You are not able to generate the requisite spiritual energy and the requisite spiritual fivency and momentum to crack it. But when you come together like this and you engage in corporate prayer, and your heart is present, and your mind is there, and your body is there, and you are engaged and you're fully involved, you generate, you tap into momentum, you tap into the fabric of others, you tap into the energy of others, and you're able to crack those things. You're able to crack those things. Number five, corporate prayer enables you and I to receive power to accomplish great things. Corporate prayer enables you and I to receive power to do what? Accomplish what? Mediocre things, great things. Great things. When we come together to pray, we have the capacity to tap into something beyond ourselves. Yes, you have the capacity to tap into something beyond yourself, something higher, something bigger, something better. Acts chapter 4, verse 23 that we read. Acts chapter 4 and verse 23 that we just read. Corporate prayer allows us to tap into power, to receive power, and that is that enables us to achieve greater things. And being let go, they went to their own companies, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And what was the result? The Holy Spirit broke out on them, and the Holy Spirit did not discriminate, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. And the Bible says they spoke the word of God with boldness in verse 33. In that same Acts chapter 4 and verse 33, they spoke the word of God with what? They spoke it with boldness. They did something supernatural. They did something supernatural, and with great power, the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Great grace enabled them to speak the word of God with boldness. When we pray together, we receive power to do things that are unprecedented. I'm praying for you that you receive the power, you receive the encouragement to do things that are unprecedented in Jesus' name. I said, You're going to receive power to do things that are unprecedented in your family. In the name of Jesus. I said, You're going to receive power to do things that are unprecedented even in this nation. In the name of Jesus. Somebody does not believe it. I said, You receive power to do things that are unprecedented in this nation, in this community, in Jesus' name. Acts chapter 1, verse 8. You know, you know the passage. When the Holy Spirit is come upon you, you'll be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, in Judea, and to the uttermost part of the world. You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you'll be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and to the ends of the earth. When you are when you engage in corporate prayer and the spirit comes upon you, you can go global. Yes, you can go global. You can go global. You know, you go global. You are a witness to God in Jerusalem. That's your product, that's your service that you are offering. You can offer it on a global scale. When you engage in corporate prayer, your heart is in it, your body is in it, your mind is in it. You receive power to do things that are unprecedented. Yes, you receive power to do things that are unprecedented. Now, let me let me chip in one. I think let me the last one now. Um number six. Number six, corporate prayer. Why do we engage in corporate prayer? What are the benefits of corporate prayer? What do we stand to gain when we come together in corporate prayer? What can you expect? Well, number six, as a born-again Christian, when you participate in corporate prayer, you your spirit is stirred up to receive winning ideas. When you participate in corporate prayer as a born-again child of God, your spirit is stirred up to receive what? Winning ideas. And I want you to underline this. I shared six with us already, but I want you to underline this. When you come together to pray, your spirit is stirred up to receive winning ideas. You begin to get thoughts. Thoughts about what you are doing, what you are going through, you begin to get ideas on what you should act on, ideas you can act on, and that will make you win. Why? Because the atmosphere is charged with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The atmosphere is charged with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. And it begins to give you the things that you ask for, and even more than that, it gives you the things that you have not asked for. Because the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 3, verse 20, he's able to do what exceeding abundantly above all we can ever ask or think. So, in the presence of the Holy Spirit, when the place is charged up with the presence of the Holy Spirit with the anointing of God, it begins to whisper ideas into you. Especially pay attention to the ones you are not you are not praying about. Pay attention to the ones you are not praying about. That something just occurred to you to do about that thing. You are not praying about it, it just occurred to you, it just came to you. Pay attention to that. You get winning ideas. Oh, this this is the step I should take in this in this area. Oh, this is how I should approach this person. This is what I should do here. This is where I should go. And I can give you examples and examples of how you know, in the place of corporate prayer, I've received clarity on things. Received clarity on challenges, received answers to issues, received, you know, even words to say in conversations. You receive words to say, this is what you should say to this person, this is how you should say it. This is where you should say it. Winning ideas. Winning ideas. As a born-again Christian, when you engage in corporate prayer, when you your spirit is stirred up, your spirit is receptive now to God to give you winning ideas. So you may not be you you may not be actively praying about that issue, but you are thinking about it, and then the Holy Spirit begins to give you ideas on what to on what to do. I pray for you. You will not lack winning ideas in Jesus' name. I said you will not lack winning ideas in Jesus' name. So as you pray today, make your heart pliable to God, make your heart ready to God. Don't harden your heart. Don't harden your heart. Expect him to speak to you concerning those thorny issues in your life. You see, the answers to prayer, some of us we we just want in divine intervention. You want God to thunder from heaven. Sometimes the answer to your prayer is an instruction. Most times the answer to your prayer is an instruction. You know, it's an instruction. The answer to your prayer is an instruction. So you're applyable to God and you are ready, expecting him to speak to you. And that's why we're going to have some time for meditative prayer. But you're going to be silent before God and you're going to expect him to speak to you. And you document that. You document those things that he says to you. You document, you write it down. You write it down in your journal, you write it down somewhere. Oh, this is what God said to me on this date. That is how you begin to chronicle your work with God. That is how you begin to have an history with God. You know, you chronicle it. This is what God said to me on this day. God will help us in Jesus' name.