Legacy · Q&A
Order and Edification in a Prayer Meeting

Question:
Dear Lary,
Thankyou for your prompt reply. Your comments are appreciated. My wife and I were once Jehovah's Witnesses until we met the real Lord Jesus in 1978. We were baptised in the Holy Spirit shortly after we came to Him. So, the question is not about "praying in the Spirit" but rather the fact that the type of prayer meeting came into being as a result of someone saying that, "I believe that the Lord has called us into a season of prayer in which we will gather Monday through Friday from 6:30 to 7pm to pray in the Spirit for 30 minutes". This is in addition to the weekly evening prayer meeting on Wednesdays from 7-8pm; Wednesdays at 9:30-10:30 for Intercessors and also11-12noon for all who would like to attend and also 10 minutes before Sunday morning and evening services.
In all these meetings people do all the things you do in your meetings. However, these meetings are "led" to pray for all the needs and work of the church; the church family and the body of Christ. The leading of the Holy Spirit is sought in all of these. But, the 30 minutes each week-day is not led by anyone and there are no specifics given as to what to pray for, there is nothing but praying in tongues for the full 30 minutes - no topics suggested, no needs mentioned, no "words" and no other comments are made. People just file in and cease to speak to each other for the full time and then go home! These meetings have been running for over two months and nothing seems to have come of it all - in fact the numbers have dwindled from nearly 30 each night to sometimes only 2-3? My wife and I can't qualify this in the Word, no do we know anyone who has experienced this - that's why I thought I would ask further afield?
Fred
Answer:
Hi Again Fred,
I'm glad to hear from you again. Thanks for getting me straightened out about the issue. I'm also glad to learn that your wife and yourself have been born of the Spirit of God. It sounds like a lot of other people have felt the same thing that you and your wife have felt, from what you said about the dwindling numbers. I do agree that someone should be leading the group to some extent, like you mentioned. When there is no right leadership there's always confusion. Are you certain that where you are, as far as a congregation, is where you belong? I do know by the Spirit and by the Scriptures (Rev. 18:4) that God is calling His people unto Himself, and out of a whole lot of religious things that are hindering His people from being led and taught by the Spirit. God was being boxed out by His people even before the first century A.D. was finished (Rev. 3:20), so it's no marvel that He would be calling His people out of situations now that are not prospering His people's souls and lives. (Rev. 3:20 is often used as a call to sinners to come to Christ, but actually it was a message from Jesus to the Pastor [angel or messenger] of the congregation in Laodicea).
I would say that the best thing that you can do is just really seek the Lord together for an answer about the whole situation. I'm sure He will manifest the truth of the matter to you. He may be using this situation to get something across to you, in terms of direction. My perception is that you are wanting to do whatever is the right thing to do, and God may be bringing you through this so that you can search Him out about it, and He can open up a clearer path to you on a larger scale than just this particular situation.
To be perfectly open with you, most of God's people are in situations where the affiliations that they are part of are in many things causing the people who are seeking to be led by God's Spirit to go in another direction. One of the things that constitute this condition is over-much religious service that God simply is not in. I do admit it does sound kind of like this is what is going on here. The result of being in this kind of strait is a confusion on the part of honest hearted believers between feeling in their hearts that they are not being truly blessed in
all of this supposed service to the Lord, but not wanting to fail God by not going along with it all. It can and does paralyze the spirit of those who allow themselves to continue to be trapped in this manner. I know a lot of people who are in that very state, and for whatever reason, they allow themselves to continue to be weighted down by that captivity. The Lord gave me a dream somewhere around 16-18 years ago where He let me feel exactly what people in that kind of situation are feeling and dealing with. If you're interested I'll be glad to tell you and your wife about it. It's quite a revealing dream, and totally scriptural. Anyway I hope maybe I've said something to help in some way, and you're always welcome to correspond. May God bless you both mightily!
Sincerely,
Lary
Follow-up:
Question:
Good morning again Lary!
Thankyou again for getting back to us so quickly. I guess you've said a lot that we are already thinking and praying about. It's difficult to know what the right course of action is when we have two married daughters and their husbands and children also fellowshipping in the same church?
However, we only want what our Heavenly Father wants for us and rest assured that is what we will do. Yes, if it is not too much trouble, we would like to know about your dream as you said. There is much that goes on in the church today that is simply not of God - it's just that this prayer thing has confronted us and we want to be really sure that we are not missing something - that's why we spend so much time in the Word when we come across something that doesn't "sit". Thanks for being there.
Fred



