Relationships matter. God calls us to relationships with Him and one another. Yet we are daily tempted to live “on our own” and interact with others according to what we need or desire. This “me” focused pressure manifest in a person’s prayer life when they mainly pray to get answered prayers. Praying to get answers to prayers is not bad, it just isn’t as fulfilling as having a relationship with God that transcends personal needs. God is the source and center for all we need, but according to the teachings of Jesus, “Jesus is not all we need”. We need one another too.
So how do we relate in the prayer room? Even if we are not talking to one another or praying for each other, is there a building up of one another in relationships?
• Just as you go to a movie with friends and mostly do not interact with each other, so too being in the prayer room increases our relationships one to another. Doing it together matters. This is true in hunting, fishing, sporting events, movies and numerous activities we do together but do not focus on one another.
• If you are called to a life of prayer or just called to give an hour or two a week to intercession, having a place brings accountability and wars against isolation. Sure you can pray alone at home. But you can also be encouraged by others seeking the Lord. It’s like “birds of a feather flocking together”.
• We are physical beings and we are spiritual beings. Why our bodies may not be connecting in the prayer room, our spirits can be entering into fellowship and unity. It is a spirit of unity that we seek for our city and region, yet we can be distracted from seeing this spiritual endeavor as we look for physical manifestations. These two, the physical and spiritual, are not in competition but complementary.
• We are instructed to know people “not after the flesh”. In our world of seeing, we can be deceived that appearance is everything. Being with others in a mainly spiritual atmosphere helps us to know one another in an entirely different way.
Every family that has family devotions knows that while they seek God together, God can strengthen personal relationships. Even when the focus is not on the family, the family can be bound together in love and devotion for one another.
In my isolation
You did not touch me
Yet your presence
Healed by soul
Love unbounded
Reached out to me
Speaking brother
“You are not alone"
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