First Wednesdays and A House of Prayer

Over the past few weeks we've been talking about making a shift in our First Wednesday services to be more focused on prayer.  Previously, our First Wednesdays included a message, some worship, and the Lord's Supper.  In the future, we'll shift this time together to include a shorter message (with some "Family Talk" about issues in our church), more time in worship, more time in prayer, and the culminating act of the service will be the Lord's Supper.

I want to summarize why we are making this change.

1) We need it!! Jesus reminds us that much of the work He calls us to do for people requires prayer for it to be successful (Mark 9:29).  There are marriages that need restoring, lost & dead souls that need saving, bodies that need healing, and people in bondage that need freeing.  There is so much that can only be done and will only get done by us praying.

2) Corporate prayer is critical. The vast majority of us pray everyday. Personal time in prayer is important and biblical.  However, praying together as a church is also biblical and I would argue critical.  Nothing shows we are unified in our dependence on God like praying together.

As we looked at our church calendar, we asked ourselves, "When is there quality time given to church-wide prayer?" While we pray during our weekly worship services and our small groups spend a good amount of time in prayer, we sensed God leading us to take our prayer life as a church, as His body to a whole new level.

Jesus said, "My House shall be called a house of prayer." (Matthew 21:13)

Jesus said that praying together increases the potency of our prayers  (Matthew 18:20)

3) What makes a church a church is the ability to offer people grace & mercy.  Grace and mercy are obtained because of the death of Jesus and THROUGH PRAYER!!

Hebrews 4:14-16

¹⁴Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. ¹⁶Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.