First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; (1 Timothy 2:1–8)
Some years ago, I was speaking with a friend who had just been released from the hospital. She related a very important lesson that she learned after her surgery: “When I was in severe pain I couldn’t even pray for myself; I could only focus on my pain. Afterwards, I realized that it was in those times that the prayers of the saints were sustaining me.” Another friend had recently suffered an injury which could have left her blind. Once during the agonizing days of waiting for the doctor’s report, the young girl said to her mother, “I have peace because I remember when the church prayed for Peter while he was in prison.” She was referring to Acts 12:5, “So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.” Later, Peter was miraculously released by an angel.
We certainly know the power of individual prayer (at least intellectually). But the Scripture reveals some of the most powerful works of the Spirit to be accomplished by corporate prayer—the church gathered as the Church to pray. When I was growing up, my family had a friend who would never come to any of the church’s prayer meetings. She would say, “I can pray just as well at home!” She was faithful in prayer but she had missed an important biblical principle, namely, that when we are saved we cease to be individualists and we are incorporated into a family. It is that way because God has designed it that way, and it is impossible for anyone to be a faithful Christian and disregard his duty of gathering with the family for worship, fellowship, and prayer. Many of the prayers of the Old Testament are corporate and Paul frequently instructs churches to pray (e.g. 1 Tim. 2:1-8).
Therefore, how should this affect our practice? For one, if someone is leading in prayer, we should follow along and make it our prayer as well by saying “Amen.” Paul implicitly commanded the corporate amen in 1 Corinthians 14:16. Also, we must share our requests with the church. Prayer is one of the means of grace. It is a benefit to being a member, one who is covenantally joined to the other members of the church. Therefore, when we are too proud or shy to share our requests with the church, we miss out on one of God’s means of grace. It is as necessary to share prayer requests as it is to take communion.
Why do you suppose God places such a premium on corporate prayer? I believe C. S. Lewis provides insight into this question while commenting on another. In his discussion of the nature of the worship in heaven in The Problem of Pain he says,
If all experienced God in the same way and returned Him an identical worship, the song of the Church triumphant would have no symphony, it would be like an orchestra in which all the instruments played the same note. . . . Heaven is a city, and a Body, because the blessed remain eternally different: a society, because each has something to tell all the others—fresh and ever fresh news of the “My God” whom each finds in Him whom all praise as “Our God” (150).
As a component of worship our corporate prayers also offer this diversity in unity. As each one within a corporate setting praises, intercedes, confesses, or requests, each offers something unique, which, when blended with the rest, becomes a beautiful symphonic offering of worship to our many-splendored God.