Prayer is essential to strengthening our relationship with God and with each other. theHeart is committed to making this a central aspect of life within our church family.
Prayer is essential to building and nourishing a personal relationship with God. Not just to have our prayers answered by God. And not just because the Bible tells us to, though that is probably reason enough.
God is the Father of the entire human race. And God cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). This means as sons and daughters of God, we can boldly pray, ask, and cast all our cares upon God as Father. Paul states in Romans 8:15, when we are His children, adopted into His family, we can begin calling him, "Father, dear Father."
"Pray without ceasing." – 1 Thessalonians 5:17
Jesus is a prime example of a life lived by prayer that offers relevance, purpose, answers, and most of all, a relationship with God the Father. Jesus prayed wholeheartedly for every move He made, asking God for guidance, leading, and direction. He prayed prayers of thanks, prayers for healing, prayers for His disciples, and prayers for believers –present and future.
There are a multitude of reasons why we pray and why we should pray. We at theHeart want to develop an even deeper reliance on life-giving and meaningful prayer. This is one of the many reasons why we've assembled a team of people devoted to lifting others up in prayer to God.
"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." – Colossians 4:2
Why a Prayer Team?
Over the course of several months Graham, our Relational Care Pastor, gathered a group of people together to seek God’s wisdom and discuss priorities for our church in the realm of loving relationships. Each of these men and women is passionate and gifted in the discipline of building loving relationships. Many of them will continue to serve the church on our newly formed Relational Care or Prayer teams.
"We have been working to develop a Prayer Team that will be available to serve on Sundays and during the week," Graham said. "It has been really encouraging to see how many people at theHeart are passionate about prayer and willing to serve the church in this way."
Where Do We Begin?
One of the clear themes that resulted from these discussions was a collective desire to build on our strong foundation of prayer and begin introducing some new rhythms into the life of our church. A commitment to a more regular and consistent offering of prayer support will happen on Sunday mornings with other opportunities throughout the week.
“If you need wisdom–if you want to know what God wants you to do–ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking. But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” – James 1:5-7
Making Prayer Support Available on Sundays
As we begin this journey, our hope is to offer a simple “response” time for encouragement and prayer in the auditorium during our Sunday morning gatherings. This space will be entirely voluntary and is meant to be a safe place for us to ask God for healing, guidance, and understanding while being encouraged by the Body of Christ.
The Prayer Team will be at our Sunday Gatherings starting August 5. And we will continue to seek God’s guidance on how to keep building a culture utterly dependent on prayer, both individually and collectively.
More About Prayer
If you have a prayer request or would like to learn more about prayer ministry at theHeart, please contact Graham: graham.aitken@theheart.us
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