February 23: Insight Post by Kim Feld
Monday Insight Post
by Kim Feld
I wonder what it was like for those who had been with Jesus to make the jump from having His physical presence to connecting with Him in prayer. There must have been a mixed bag of emotions for the disciples – grief over no longer having Jesus with them, yet incredible joy over His resurrection. They were now tasked with spreading the good news that the resurrected Jesus was the Messiah, the Savior of all.
Acts 2:42 gives us a glimpse into the early church community and the vital role of prayer. I encourage you to go back and listen to or watch the recordings of the past few weeks from our Sunday morning series, Drop the Rock, if you’ve missed any. Pastor Mike Poff was our guest speaker yesterday, and he did a great job talking about how to live “rock-free.” Mike reminded us that we have two paths to choose from – self-righteousness or forgiveness – and that choosing to hold onto our “rocks” has a high cost. Living in community with others is hard work! Prayer is a crucial component of letting go of those big rocks of unforgiveness, judgmentalism, and disunity.
Prayer is an enormous privilege. It’s hard to believe that we have such immediate access to Jesus. Although we can pray alone at any time, scripture tells us of the power of praying together. Let’s take a look:
19“I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you.20For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” Matthew 18:19-21 (NLT)
Jesus gave us the Lord’s Prayer as a model, and it teaches us to pray according to God’s will, so these verses in Matthew don’t mean you can ask and receive without guardrails. However, there is power when you are praying for the same thing with others. I have received so much encouragement over the years from praying with others when something is heavy on both our hearts.
I have also found that praying with others truly strengthens our relationship. There’s something about connecting with others through prayer that is different than just spending time together. It allows us to encourage, uplift, strengthen, and support others by taking their concerns to our loving Father as they listen.
How can you be more intentional about praying with others this week? We have God’s promise that He will meet us there.
Kim Feld
Executive Director of Education and Outreach
New Hope Church
Lorton, Virginia
www.newhope.org