“Make every effort to preserve the unity the Spirit has already created, with peace binding you together.” (Ephesians 4:3)
Here is a wonderful prayer to use to close a meeting, church service, or any type of gathering! Use your departure as a time to thank God and ask for His protection and blessings.
Father, praise You for the gift of unity that the Spirit creates in our relationships! You place others perfectly in our lives, and inspire us as Christians to work together with the gifts that we have been blessed with. When we look at this meeting through Your eyes, we see Your gifts fostered in us to further Your plans.
Forgive us, Father, for the control and the credit that we grasp for in these meetings while planning and accomplishing projects together. We confess that honoring You through our work is not always at the forefront of our minds as we strive for end goals. In the spaces of our hearts that harbor envy and ambition, we prayerfully ask You to make room for humility and shared credit.
The church doesn’t stand on any one person's’ shoulders. Not one of us can further Your plans on our own. But together, we can complement each other’s strengths and cancel out our weaknesses. As a team, a unified body focused on the gospel of Christ, we can do great things in Your honor as we were purposed to do.
Thank You for the ideas that You spoke life into here today, and for the courage of each voice that stood to be heard. In each one of us lies a puzzle piece. One by one, as we stand and speak and work, we see our individual pieces moving into place. We continue to strive for Your will, piece by piece, until You call us home.
Bless all of us in this meeting today. Each of us have a life outside of these walls. There are very real hurts that some are coping with, and needs of others that we ache to help with and meet. Take that stirring of love that we feel for each other and guide our steps to be faithful friends and extensions of Your love to those that You have seated beside pf and across from us today. As we bow our heads and lift up our plans to You, we pray that You bless our hearts and minds to know we have done well in Your eyes. We pray for your assurance that we are operating within Your will.
Lord, we believe that You will provide for us. We look forward to the ways that You will surprise and amaze us with Your faithfulness. The lives that You will touch and the people in this room You will use to brighten dark spaces and lift sad hearts. Our passion for discussion today is fueled by You, our Father, who with the same note of passion created us to be light to the world… color to dullness… life to dead places… and love to lost faces. Bless our work and our time. Guide our steps and our progress. Grant us the power of Your Holy Spirit to work together because it’s impossible to see past our human stubbornness without You.
Bless us Lord, as we leave here today, to take Your passion with us. Fan its flame after we part and inspire our best contributions. Remind us always of Your love, as we see our plans unfold and accomplish the goals we set here today.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells in us through our belief in Jesus, our Lord and Savior, inspire our hearts to seek You in Your Word daily. Grow us both individually and together, as we seek the peace of Your presence. Help us to walk faithfully and fiercely after Christ, reflecting His love. May we always lift our progress up to You, who holds the honor and glory for who we are and what we do. Use our lives, Lord, to reach those who desperately need to know You love them. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Meg Bucher writes about everyday life within the love of Christ on her blog, http://sunnyand80.org. “Mom” is the most important calling on her life, next to encouraging others to seek Him first… authentically. A dance mom, occasional substitute teacher, and youth worship leader, she can often be found having some kind of an adventure in the small little lake town she resides in with her husband of ten years, two daughters, and their doodle-dog.
Photo credit: ©Thinkstock/vadimguzhva
This article is part of our larger Prayers resource meant to inspire and encourage your prayer life when you face uncertain times. Visit our most popular prayers if you are wondering how to pray or what to pray. Remember, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us and God knows your heart even if you can't find the words to pray.
Prayer for Healing
Prayer for the Sick Miracle Prayer Prayer for Strength Prayer for Protection Morning Prayers Good Night Prayers Short Prayers The Lord's Prayer Serenity Prayer A Birthday Prayer Prayer for Forgiveness Prayer for Guidance
As a Church we take prayer very seriously. We recognise that every aspect of life should be prayerfully considered if we are going to invite God’s power to be amongst us. So as well as featuring as part of our Sunday services, small groups and our individual lives.
We hold a monthly Church prayer meeting where the Church is encouraged to gather to pray and seek God. We may intercede for a particular situation or aspect of Church life. We may be praying for the needs of our community or indeed the world. But fundamentally we want to connect with God and enjoy His presence amongst us. All those who identify with us as a Church are welcome. The meeting starts at 10am and ends at 12.30pm, but we break for coffee at 11am and suggest that people come for as long or as short a time as they feel able.
Events
What was your last prayer meeting like?
Prayer is vital part of our relationship with God. Is your relationship full of passion, vibrancy, and excitement?
Opening Prayer For A Meeting At Work
Do you have a prayer meeting for your women’s ministry? Why not?
Prayer meetings can be boring. They can be dull and stale. We all know that this is wrong.
Here are 11 ways to make your next prayer meeting more vibrant and meaningful.
What was your last prayer meeting like? Learn 11 things to help make your next prayer time more powerful.
1. Preparation
The prayer leader needs to be prepared with more than just a list of names to be prayed over. Prayer is so much more than targeted intercession.
Prayer For A Business Meeting
Planning a prayer meeting on the fly is not adequate. Sorry.
If you need help organizing a prayer meeting there is no shame in recognizing that and getting help. Pray and ask God to help you organize the prayer meeting! Confess your need and desire to learn in this area.
Start by praying over the prayer meeting with the lead team and as individuals.
Use some of the suggestions here to come up with a Prayer Meeting format that will work for your church or church ministry.
How much time do you have for a prayer meeting? 2 hours? 1 hour? 15 minutes? Plan out what you are going to do for those minutes.
Line up someone to help you organize the a worship song. Bring in a missionary team member to be prayed over. Invite someone to give a testimony to the power of prayer in their life.
Don’t limit your thinking here. How about a Skype call from a foreign worker where you pray over and with them? Send a letter to an international worker signed by everyone who prayed over them.
Can you telephone a sick congregation member before or after you pray for them?
Don’t doom your prayer meeting before it starts by not having a plan.
Get your calendar out and plan to plan the prayer meeting.
2. Teaching about Prayer
There are excellent resources available to us.
Bring to each meeting a short teaching about how to pray, or about what the Bible says about prayer, or even an example of prayer. Keep the teaching short and upbeat.
We are all growing in and learning about prayer. Let’s be purposeful in our learning and growing.
The teaching part of the meeting should not overshadow the actual praying. Do NOT turn your prayer meeting into a Bible study. Have a Bible study at a different time and call it a Bible Study.
3. Promises of God
God promised us wonderful things in the Bible – peace, health, security and more.
All the promises of the Bible are prayers waiting to come into being. – Paraphrase of Dr. T. V. Thomas
If you are praying for specific people, are there any promises of scripture that you can claim for them or that they themselves are claiming?
Make some lists of Bible promises that speak to the very depths of your heart. Start to bring these promises to God in the form of prayer for yourself and for others.
Pray and ask for direction to be revealed to you as to how to pray.
4. Pray for the Lost
There are two groups of people we need to be praying for.
The first group are the people who have never heard the gospel and have never attended church. Pray for your neighbours and for the people in the area around your church building.
The second group are the people who have been impacted by your church in some way, but have left the faith.
Adobe torrent pirate bay. Ask God for them back.
Remember to pray for unsaved loved ones of your church members. Stand together in unity of prayer with them.
READ MORE: Praying For Your Neighbour Like You Pray For Yourself
5. Invite New Believers
The best place for a new believer to learn about prayer is at prayer meeting
A new believer may or may not want to vocalize their prayers right away. They can listen to mature Christian believers praying out loud and learn the language of prayer.
The passion of new believers can help older believers to remember their first love and reignite a passion for Christ that has burned low.
6. Sing Worship Songs
For longer meetings try to include a worshipful song. You could start the meeting with a song or have one in the middle to break things up.
A song at the end of the meeting may be a great way to close out a prayer meeting with everyone singing a song of praise together.
The group leader could ask for help to lead the song and to play a piano. Your prayer meeting is not a singing worship night, keep the focus on prayer. Use the singing to add to prayer and not take away from it.
7. Update Prayer Resources and Promote Them
What is available in your church or denomination as a prayer resource? Do you have some books in the church library or your own personal library?
Are there prayer letters available from missionaries or foreign workers?
Do you have a global prayer guide?
Do you have a prayer wall or map?
What concerns can you find in your local newspaper that need to be prayed over?
Remind the people attending the prayer meeting about the materials that you have available to help them deepen their prayer life or expand their prayer scope.
8. Prayer Teams
Breaking your large prayer group into very small groups can be very intimidating for people unaccustomed to praying out loud and may prevent them from coming back.
Break your much larger group into teams of 10 to pray over a specific concerns or ministry endeavours. Each team should be lead by a couple of mature believers of prayer.
By having 10 people in a group and a predetermined leader, those who do not wish to pray out loud don’t have to and yet they can join into the group prayer.
9. Change your posture.
Don’t let anyone fall asleep. Try to change your posture a couple of times through the meeting to help everyone pay attention.
Could you all stand up and lay hands on a church leader or speaker?
Maybe you can rearrange some chairs in the middle of the meeting to gather for a group prayer.
How about standing up to sing?
10. Pray a Psalm or a Written Prayer
Is there a Psalm or prayer written by a respected teacher or leader that speaks to a situation that you are in? Pray that written prayer aloud for everyone to agree to.
Is there a responsive prayer that the group could pray together over a situation?
The main point here is that changing prayer patterns can be beneficial and stimulate a great and deeper understanding of prayer.
Spontaneous prayer is great. Don’t lose out by neglecting other types and forms of prayer.
11. Allow Time for Individual Prayer
Even in a corporate prayer meeting you can allow time to people to call out to God from the deep reaches of their heart privately.
You may want to do this at the beginning of the prayer meeting so that individuals can examine their own lives and repent of any sin in their lives.
A time of personal prayer later in the meeting can be an opportunity for individuals to pour out their hearts to God and for people gifted with an intercessory prayer ministry to quietly pray for anyone seriously grieved and hurting.
Prayer meetings for the whole church congregation, your women’s ministry or for any other church activity can be exciting and life changing.
Let’s take back the prayer meeting. No more falling asleep or boredom allowed.
Reread the book of Acts and pray for boldness and the advance of God’s Kingdom. Praying changes lives.
Blessings,
Elizabeth
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In the secular workplace, generally we do not pray before a meeting, however, I was blessed in one of my jobs outside of the home to work for a lovely Christian lady. Often times when it was just the two of us she offered up prayers for our meeting. She asked that God would bless our time together and help us to deal with the project at hand. She also asked that we would remember that it is through His strength that we are able to accomplish any task at hand. The thing that was so special about these prayers for our meeting was that we were in a non-Christian environment. Here are 8 things to remember in your prayers for meetings that you might want to use, even if you do not speak them out loud.
Acknowledge that God Always Was and Always Will beMoses prayed:
Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. 3 You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!” 4 For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. ~ Psalms 90:1-4
Pray for Boldness and for Clarity of SpeechThe psalmist did not hesitate to specifically ask for clarity in speech:
O Lord, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you! 2 Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice! 3 Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips! ~ Psalm 141:1-3
The believers prayed for boldness to speak of Jesus after Peter and John had been detained by the rulers and elders at Jerusalem and told not to speak of the healing that Jesus did:
“ And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” ~ Acts 4:29-30
Paul asked the church at Ephesus to pray that he would be bold for Christ
“ … praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.” ~ Ephesians 6:18-20
Pray for your Meeting Leaders, as the Believers Prayed for the Leaders
And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. ~ Acts 14:23
Remember to Be ThankfulFor Each Other:
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. ~ Philippians 1:3-5
For the Leaders:
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2
For Everything:
Rejoice always,17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
What About a Song to Open a Meeting
Many times in a meeting at church we will open with a song. This is a great way to focus our attention to how great God is and how wonderful it is to have a Heavenly Father that guides us in all wisdom and strength. Commit your project to God, you will be amazed at how much more smoothly things will go. Be sure to listen to the video in the upper right of this page and never forget How Great is Our God. Hallelujah!
Sources:
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version
“Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
Watch the last airbender 2 movie online free. YouTube video: “How Great is Our God” by Hillsong
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