From the Principal

The Power of Prayer

This week I'd like to share some thoughts about prayer and call our community to prayer for our school, the students and their families.

Let me tell you about some of the ways we are doing this at LCS. Every Tuesday morning our staff meet together at 8:00am to pray. This is a time where one staff member leads a devotion on our theme for the year. The 2019 theme is “Thy Kingdom Come”. We then break into small groups of 4 or 5 to pray. Why do we do this? I’ve heard it said most simply this way.

When we work, we work – when we pray, God works.

Prayer occurs in each home room/class teacher group in the Middle and Senior School and in every Junior School classroom. Prayer occurs at various times throughout the school day in response to the circumstances that warrant our time to be spent in prayer.

One area of prayer that we are working to make more well known in our school is the time every Tuesday morning at 8:45am – 9:15am where I invite parents to meet together to pray. At the moment this is a very small group of mostly 2 or 3 folk. There are times that our number have swelled a little, but to date it has not exceeded 4. While the number is not important, the number does impact the level of mutual encouragement.

Prayer is one of the deepest joys of the Christian life. It is almost too good to be true that in Jesus, we have the very ear of God. What an indescribable gift, that the God whose greatness is beyond comprehension actually stoops to listen to us, and is even more eager to hear us than we are eager to speak.

And the joys and benefits of prayer aren’t limited to our personal prayer lives. A shared joy is a doubled joy, and God means for us not to only pray in our closets and without ceasing, but to pray with company. Immeasurable good happens when believers rally with each other to come to their Father.

Here are some reasons that we find in the Word of God about praying together.

Added Power

Matthew 18:15-20 may be one of the more misunderstood texts in the New Testament. That often quoted promise “where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” comes at the end of a section on church discipline and when a “brother sins against you”. The context is not exactly small-group prayer. However, Jesus does appeal to a deeper principle here, which is a benefit of praying together. There is added power when we unite with brothers and sisters in Christ to join our hearts and make our collective requests to our Father.

Multiplied Joy

When we share the joy of prayer, we increase our joy in prayer. When we make a regular practice of praying together with fellow believers, we avail ourselves of a channel of joy we otherwise would be neglecting. And by praying with others, not only do we add to our joy in God, but also to theirs. And when we work with others for their joy, we again increase our own.

Greater Glory to God

Our multiplied joy in God then makes for multiplied glory to God — because, as John Piper says, God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. 2 Corinthians 1:10b-11 reminds us, ‘On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us in your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favour granted us in answer to the prayers of many.’ Praying together not only adds power to the request, but also gets others involved and so brings more glory for the Giver when He answers.

More Fruitful Ministry and Mission

God desires for us to pray for each other in our various ministries and expressions of our great shared Commission. Paul modeled this when he asked the churches to pray for his gospel work. He was more than able to pray these things himself, and doubtless he did, but he anticipated there would be greater fruitfulness in the work when others joined him in prayer for it.

Unity Among Believers

Praying together is one of the single most significant things we can do to cultivate unity in the church. There is a unity that is a given to those who are partners in Christ and share spiritual life in him. Acts 1:14 says it was ‘with one accord’ that the first Christians ‘were devoting themselves to prayer.’ Already we have the unity of the Spirit, and yet we are to make every effort to keep it. So praying together is both a demonstration of the unity we share in Christ, and it enhances a deeper and richer unity. It is not only a sign that unity already exists among the brothers, but also a catalyst for more.

Answers We Otherwise Wouldn’t Get

James 5:14-16 implies that there are some answers to prayer we simply would not get without involving others in our praying. ‘Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.’ God desires for some answers to prayer to wait for others to join with us in the plea. Often we pray alone for our personal needs, and God is pleased to answer. But at times, His means include the leaders of the church, or a special ‘prayer of faith’, or just the humble prayer of a fellow sinner made righteous in Christ.

To Learn and Grow in Our Prayers

Plain and simple, the best way to learn to pray is to pray with others, especially those who have had their prayers shaped by the Scriptures. And even beyond what we are conscious of, we’re being shaped in profound ways for good as we join our hearts with others in prayer.

To Know Each Other

One of the best ways to get to know a fellow believer is to pray together. It is in prayer, in the conscious presence of God, that we’re most likely to let our facades fall. We hear others’ hearts in prayer like nowhere else.

To Know Jesus More

Saving the best for last, the greatest benefit is that we know Jesus better when we pray together, in His name, with fellow lovers of Him. With our limited vision and perspective, there are aspects of Christ that we can see with more clarity than what others might. Our own experiences and personalities highlight some features of His glory but can make us blind to others. And so Tim Keller observes, “By praying with friends, you will be able to hear and see facets of Jesus that you have not yet perceived” (Prayer, 119). And since the great point of prayer is not getting things from God, but getting God, perhaps this benefit alone is enough to inspire us for that next opportunity to pray with company.

These thoughts are not designed to put any in our community on a guilt trip about not coming to share in prayer. Indeed the exact opposite. To encourage our community to pray for each other and for our school, that is God’s sch