Prayer

Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

(James 5:16, NIV)

One of the many commands on prayer our church abides by is Luke 21:36: “Watch therefore and pray always.”

We do this in several different ways:

The church leadership keeps a list of current praises, prayer requests, and concerns, which is updated weekly.
We host a weekly “Watchcare” meeting over Zoom, every Wednesday from 7pm-7:30pm. We pray together and share praises, concerns, and updates.
We review our prayer list and share updates at the beginning of Sunday Service, which is 10AM every week.
We keep prayer cards in the front of the church sanctuary, which are free to use to keep our leadership and congregation aware of new prayer requests.

Why is prayer important?

Jesus Christ set a powerful example of the importance of prayer.

He purposely took time out of his day to pray:

“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” (Mark 1:35)

Luke 5:16 says, “And He withdrew Himself into the wilderness, and prayed.” Some translations, such as the NIV, phrase the verse as, “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

Whichever translation you prefer, it’s clear that Jesus Christ made prayer a priority.

He prayed for both himself and others, and took time to pray with others:

When his disciples asked Him how they ought to pray, He taught them and prayed with them.

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.” (Luke 11:1-2)

He instructed his disciples to pray to their Father for their needs, and to seek Him in prayer:

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Luke 11:9)

He instructed them to pray for their enemies:

“Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” (Luke 6:28)

And Paul echoed Jesus’ teachings, encouraging the Ephesians in his letters. “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” (Ephesians 6:18)

These examples were left to the church by Jesus Christ showing the importance of prayer in our lives.

Send us your prayer request and we will pray with and for you.