Three More Common Experiences When People Pray Together

Removing the Negative Feelings Brought Along When Praying Together – Part 2

When We Pray With Others – Part 2.2

If you will recall the first two common feelings or experiences people have when praying with others, are 1) the feeling of being uncomfortable and 2) a feeling of being critiqued in the way that one prays. With that said, we would like to pick up where we left off from the previous installment. In this episode we will present three more of the most common feelings brought on when we pray with others. Let’s get right to it.

• Running Out of Words – The feeling that you will run out of words to pray is quite common when you pray aloud in a group setting. So often this happens. It happens to the best pray-ers (people who pray). In prayer, you might experience a time where you lose your frame of thought or even running out of words to say. It’s easy under normal conditions especially when you’re not first and find yourself at the end of a prayer-circle. When you come last, the people before you may have already prayed the very thought you wanted to pray. Now what are you going to do? We have seen people not have any words of prayer to add. We’ve seen people repeat what another person prayed before them. So, how do you overcome running out of words?
  
  We have a theory as to why you shouldn’t run out of words when you pray. We’ve shared a few lessons on that which you can refer back to. At any rate, when you run out of words in prayer that means you’re not prepared. It also means, you have attempted to pray in a manner that you’ve seen modeled, but are uncomfortable, unpractised and unskilled to perform yourself. You see if you can join in a conversation on any topic, then you can pray. However, you must alter what you’ve seen modeled and find a way, your way, to contribute to the team conversation with God.
  
  Prayer is not easy. But then again, it’s not hard. It does require you to be prepared. You should want to be prepared when talking with the Creator of the universe, the CEO of your life. Every single time you come into His presence, you should have more than enough to ask and receive answers about. I heard it said that we should “give Him no rest.” ^[1] You should have more subjects and topics at your disposal when you pray so that running out of words isn’t possible. While I could go back and provide details on how to not run out of words, we need to stay on subject. This lesson is only targeting the feelings that we have, and in the later installments, we will talk about how we can overcome or not experience these feelings anymore. How do we rid ourselves of feeling this way when we’re praying together?

   

• Lack of Trust – Sometimes you just don’t know or maybe you do know that what you’d like to pray with others it’s something you feel comfortable trusting the group with. This is not unusual. In other words, if you don’t trust the people in the room with you, then you may not pray for the things that are personal or that you don’t want out in the open. The word that’s often used is “an unspoken prayer request.” In case like this people submit “unspoken prayer requests.” Therefore, let’s call it a restricted environment, a feeling of being restricted from praying with full disclosure. At times it depends on who’s in the room. This alone might dictate what you can and cannot say. It might influence what you will and will not share during your time of prayers. Wouldn’t that be a problem?
  
  Unfortunately it is common. If you’ve got a personal situation or even if there is some personal business of the organization, you may not put it out there because of who’s in the room. That means you’re going to have to tailor your prayers or keep from saying things that you wish to present to God. All because there’s a lack of trust for those in the room.
  
  There are a couple ideas that we will address regarding this feeling that I will briefly insert here. One, praying together is an organized team activity, therefore, the goal or objective should be predefined so that no one has to present uncomfortable topics in the group. Those types of prayer are better served confidentially or in a safe environment. Secondly, when praying with others trust is dictated by the gift of the team members, in this case “pray-ers.” If someone on the team is gifted to pray for healing, then he or she might not be the best person to pray for finances. Each person has a part to play and are gifted in their own positions on the team. Therefore, you learn to trust his or her unique gift for prayer. Now that’s serious. We’re talking about praying with others and taking prayer to the next level.

   

• That Person – We call this one, “that person.” This is the feeling brought on when having to follow “that person” when praying together. “That person” is the person you don’t want to follow when you pray. “That person” is the person that once they pray, you know you cannot even compare to what they just did. It is “that person” that for every topic, they have a scripture, or have so much excitement, or are so eloquent that you never want to come behind “that person.”
  
  While this happens during most prayer meetings, we don’t want this to be a problem or concern for you. There is a way to overcome this. Just because someone else is so eloquent doesn’t mean what you have to say in the presence of God isn’t. You know, it’s not to them that we are praying. It is to Him that we’re praying. Once we realize that, one of the rules, that we have even on the team that I serve in prayer, is when we walk across the threshold into the prayer room, we’re talking to God. The prayer room is the designated place at that moment for prayer. It’s like when Air Force One becomes Air Force One once the President is onboard. When we walk into the room for prayer, He is in the room. Now that room has been transformed into The Prayer Room. It becomes our meeting room for The King of Kings. We have a reminder in place to let everyone know we’re not getting ready to talk to each other, but as a team we’re getting ready to talk and speak with God. We’re going to do it together, we’re going to be in a corporate meeting with Jesus.
  
  While “that person” might be present, when you allow your unique gift to shine on the team, you become “that person.” In other words, as a coach of a team of pray-ers, we find every way to get the ball to all the players so that we put our team in the best possible position to win in prayer. When each person uses their gift in prayer, then each person becomes “that person.” This is next level prayer!

As a team and an individual, you pray like you practice. Many people don’t understand this rule. If you don’t pray often, then when you get ready to pray, you won’t know what to do. You won’t know what to say. You won’t know how to respond. You won’t know how to speak. You pray like you practice. Remember, prayer is like a sport. If you want to get good at it, you have to do it often. If you want to get good, you have to get around some players who can get you to where you’re going.

For example, if you play tennis, you want to surround yourself with more experienced tennis players, if you want to get better. In a prayer environment, many people have different gifts and they all play different parts and have different functions on the team. Therefore you will need to get close to a person that has a function like yours so that you can sharpen your gift. When your gift is sharp, nothing can compare to you. You may not have to be eloquent. You might not be disciplined. You may not be as specific in your prayers. However, you may have more scriptures. You may be more organized. You may have more praise and thanksgiving. You might bring more excitement. You might be the person who is more concerned for others. There are different gifts when it comes to prayer. How will you know that these gifts exist, if you don’t get into a room with a group of people who have those gifts so that you can figure out where yours fits in?

We are the body of Christ and the body of Christ has many parts and pieces. ^[2] If you’re a part of the hand of the body of Christ, that means you could be a thumb. You could be a middle finger. You could be a pinky finger. You could be inside of the palm. No matter where you are, you want to be the best you that you can be.

Then in an organization where you’re praying, you want to get around people who are similar to you so that you can sharpen your gifts. Become your best. Become a better pray-er. So that, when it is your time to shine, so to speak, then you’re ready. There is nothing wrong with being your best. In fact, we are commanded to use our gifts, get better at our gifts, and then use those gifts well to serve the lives of others. ^[3] In fact, you want to always be skilled and ready to do whatever it is you do, including how you pray. This my friend is how you take prayer to the next level.

Question: which of these negative feelings would you say you encountered and how did it make you feel?

[1] ‭‭Isaiah 62:6-7 NLT‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬, Bible.com, accessed October 19, 2022, https://www.bible.com/bible/116/ISA.62.6-7.NLT
[2] ‭‭1 Corinthians 12:12-18 NLT, Bible.com, accessed October 19, 2022, https://www.bible.com/bible/116/1CO.12.12-18.NLT
[3] Romans 12:6-8 NLT, Bible.com, accessed October 19, 2022, https://www.bible.com/bible/116/ROM.12.6-8.NLT

All Scripture references used by permission, see our Scripture copyrights. [https://www.kerryaclark.com/scripture-copyrights/]