Corporate Prayer II and Much, Much More

I wanted to clarify some things I said last week about corporate prayer. I may have opined that it was sin to pray in any other way than the way Jesus showed us in Mathew 6. Sin may have been too strong a word for it. It depends.

If we are praying publicly and corporately in such a way that we want to impress God and men with our words, or teach a lesson or preach a sermon with our prayer, then it is sin to pray in this fashion. If you wish to convey that as a teacher or a pastor or an elder, your words are more holy and more likely to be heard, then there is also a sin problem. Jesus did not want us to pray in this way. It's why He preached about it.

So what about praying for others or for each other individually or in small groups?

I do not believe this to be sin, especially if done individually. If small groups are praying for each other or their church, I do not see this as an issue either. My thought is, however, that such prayer should be silent, even when done in group session. Prayer is to be between us and God. Others do not need to hear it. Why would they? Unless...there is another agenda afoot.

Now what could I possibly mean by that?

Even in small groups where prayer is shared among the participants audibly, some are more eloquent than others, some try to use their ability to pray in eloquent fashion to manipulate the group and control them even to the point of assuming leadership.

Friends, prayer is not to be done this way.

Then there is the "I just Want To Help You" pray-er.

They will come up to you, being barely an acquaintance, and they will say, "Hi. How ya doing, Hope all is well. Is there anything I can pray about for you."  

Now what could possibly be wrong with that right?

It is an excellent bonding technique if you are looking to make friends. It's a way of telling someone that you care about them and want to get to know them. Let's hope that is the agenda that's afoot.
There are also those that will say things like that because they are fishing for information or trying to get you to talk about yourself or spill whatever it is they think you are withholding. Church leaders will sometimes do this in an effort to get the spiritual pulse of individual congregants and access the overall health of the church.

Now there is nothing wrong with praying for others in confidentiality before the Lord. Persistence and large numbers of praying people with one purpose get God's attention. He will answer even if it's to shut us up.

But if the "how can I pray for you" line is being used to manipulate or gather info for gossip - well, that's a problem; a very subjective problem. I say 'subjective' because we do not know the motivations of someone's heart in the way that God does. So it's a risk.

Ultimately, we have to decide if we are willing to trust anyone besides God with our personal information or things we would like prayer for or assistance in prayer with. We have to be willing to endure potential hurt and pain and exposure if we are betrayed.

Or

We can also simply pray for ourselves. God already knows what we need. Jesus said so.