Corporate prayer - power or ritual?

June 23, 2005

I am looking, as I sit here, at my collection of books on prayer. Lord, I want to know more about prayer. But what I really want is to become a truly effective pray-er. Teach me, strengthen me, guide me, help me, dear Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name. Thank You.

I was talking with ____ about prayer, and he seemed to think that corporate prayer is not too important, and that actually it may be kind of dangerous because it can become ritualistic. But can’t that happen with individual prayer, too? I think that unless you really keep on desiring to increase and deepen your relationship with the Lord every day, every aspect of your “spirituality” can become little more than dry, empty ritual. I think there is power in corporate prayer, and that God honours it, as many scriptures show. Individual prayer, daily, constantly, is crucial, but we are also to join together to worship God, and prayer should be a really important part of worship.