Where do we pray? Praying on the Way

Sandy Landes, Prayer Ministry coordinator, Franconia Mennonite Conference

Have you ever heard a person’s voice over the phone or on the radio and pictured what they look like, even if you have never met them? And then when you do meet them in person, you find out they don’t look the way you expected them to? I had that experience several times in the past year when I was praying for a person or situation. I guess I already had ideas in my mind put there by preconceived notions about what the need or answer was.

However when we actually meet someone, visit them in their home on their own “turf” or go to experience their culture first-hand, all of a sudden we have a new understanding of what the needs are and perhaps the answers.

Recently, I was challenged by Mark Fly, staff member of Spruce Lake to consider taking a prayer team down to Philadelphia to pray for Philadelphia Mennonite High School. I had not connected with the school in any way and had some ideas of what their prayer needs might be. But, visiting the school and praying with teachers, staff and students in their own building was a blessing I did not imagine beforehand. As Sue Hackman, prayer team member from Line Lexington Mennonite Church, and I spent time listening to stories of God’s faithfulness it increased our faith.

As we sat and felt the pain of students about family situations, we felt compassion for them and were inspired to pray and bring them before the throne of God. Walking the halls, hearing the buzz of classroom discussions and listening to God’s heart for this school brought our prayers to a different level. We now pray with greater understanding, be it very little, for a part of Christ’s body.

In that same vein, this past week, a group of intercessors from the Souderton area traveled to northern New Jersey for a monthly prayer gathering at Garden Chapel Mennonite Church. As we worshiped, listened to God and prayed together, God strengthened our bonds as our eyes were opened to the work God is doing in that community. Now this team of intercessors prays in a new way for Garden Chapel, a small church at the bottom of a hill surrounded by a busy community. Having actually spent time physically with the congregation gives us a new insight as we pray.

Jesus did not stay in one place, he traveled and met people where they were. Paul writes to the many people he met on his journeys, encouraging them because he knows their weaknesses and their strengths having spent time living and worshiping with them.

How can we take our prayer ministry to a new level? I would proprose that we need to “go” and pray. While there is power in prayer no matter where we are, praying onsite gives us new understanding and insight as we pray. Prayer-walking in your community gives a better look at the demographics, the needs, the strengths. Traveling to visit a missionary or church planter will help you to pray with pictures of the situation, the physical surroundings or needs. Going to visit someone in a hospital will help you to pray with compassion as you sense the pain and suffering they are feeling firsthand.

What if our prayer meetings took place somewhere other than church, in a restaurant, in the local park, in the neighborhood, in the public? Would it change the way we pray? Where are the places in your community and world where God is calling you to minister? What if we started praying there first and inviting God to give us a picture of what God wants to do?

My encouragement is to consider where and how we pray. Might God be calling us to put on our walking shoes and pray on the way?