This chapter is not really a review of Beeke's chapter, since I was really uncomfortable with many of the Scriptures he cited as proof for the necessity of corporate prayer meetings. As I believe the Puritans were often guilty of, there was - in my opinion - a little too much eisogesis (reading into the texts), and not enough exegesis (drawing out of the texts).
However, despite the fact that Beeke and the Puritans read more into many of the Scriptures he cites as proof of corporate prayer meetings (e.g. Genesis 4:26; 21:33; Psalm 66:16; 137:1-2, etc.), it does not mean that the Bible is silent on this issue. In fact, as we read the Bible intelligently, we see that it has much to say about the discipline of corporate prayer, especially in the NT, where it seems to be a normative practice of what fellow Christians naturally did when they gathered together as a community.
The Bible, both the OT and NT, assumes that God's people pray. Immediately, we who are engulfed in the world we live in assume that this refers to individual prayer (which of course it does). However, when one remembers that the people of Israel were a corporate nation that did life together (much like many of the "tribal" areas of the world), prayer was not merely an isolated practice, but often a corporate form of communion and fellowship. Often, then, when people prayed, they prayed together - as families, tribes, and as prescribed by the law, they prayed together as a nation at least 3 times a year.
For example, when Jesus' disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray (see Matthew 6:5-15), it is interesting that Jesus' answer assumes a corporate setting of believers praying together (all the verbs and pronouns are in the plural: for example, we pray "Our Father", not "my Father", etc.). Not surprisingly, the early church assimilated "the Lord's Prayer" into their corporate liturgy in public gatherings and services.
Though Jesus often and consistently prayed alone, the gospel narratives show that Jesus also prayed much with His 12 disciples (e.g. Luke 9:18; John 17, etc.).
However, I think that the clearest biblical warrant for the practice of regular, scheduled, corporate (i.e. church) prayer meetings is found in the book of Acts and Paul's epistles.
After Jesus' ascension back to the Father, Luke tells us in Acts 1 that the apostles were "with one accord devoting themselves to prayer, together with the woman and Mary the mother of Jesus, and His brothers" (verse 14). The Greek tenses of the verbs used here emphatically tell us that this was an ongoing, habitual practice, and not a one time ordeal. When they needed to make a decision as to who would replace Judas, they did not go their separate ways into their personal prayer closets, but rather prayed together to seek the Lord's will (1:24-26).
In the very next chapter, after the Spirit had fallen on Pentecost and over 3000 people were converted under Peter's preaching, Luke again tells us that corporate prayer was normative for all the believers: "And [the believers] devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." (2:42). As in 1:14, the Greek tenses of the verbs emphasize that these were not one-time events, but became the lifestyle of those converted to Christ.
When Satan afflicted the early church with fierce persecution, the NT church met corporately for prayer until the Lord heard their cries. Luke tells us that "they lifted their voices together to God" (4:24).
When deacons were required, again their selection comes about in the context of believers gathered together to seek the Lord's will (see Acts 6:1-7).
When Peter was unjustly put into prison, the church did not merely send out a prayer chain. No, they gathered together for prayer (Acts 12:12).
When Paul and Barnabas were set apart by the Holy Spirit to take the gospel to the nations, it was done in the context of a church prayer meeting (Acts 13:1-3; note that the Greek is very, very similar to what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:8-11). Merely asking for prayer on Facebook (which is not a bad thing of course) was not enough. They gathered together to seek God's will in united prayer. Any time a major decision was to be made in the church life, the church prayed together.
Acts 16 tells us how the first church in Europe was born in a women's prayer meeting as Lydia's heart was sovereignly opened up to the true gospel of Jesus Christ as preached by Paul (Acts 16:13-15).
Intentional, corporate prayer was normative in the early church. This is the only explanation for why there was such explosive growth in the church. Which should cause us to pause and ask, "Why have we abandoned this essential grace as churches in the 21st century?"
Finally, passages such as Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 very likely (again, plural verbs and pronouns) refer to prayer meetings of gathered churches. Other passages would include 1 Corinthians 16:19; Ephesians 6:18; Philippians 4:6; Colossians 4:2, 5; 1 Thessalonians 5:17; 1 Timothy 2:1-2; Philemon 12; 1 Peter 4:7).
If the Bible, especially the NT, shows that this was an essential feature of Christian life together, why has this foundational means of grace been neglected and forsaken by the modern church? I believe that there will be no real revival in Christ's church until the church's corporate prayer meetings are resuscitated.
Perhaps a good dose of persecution would be the best thing for our churches, as it seems that prayer was not merely a tack on for the super-spiritual older people of the church, but rather a way of life for all those who were baptized into the body of the local church. As John Piper so aptly put it, "We will not know what prayer is for, until we know that life is war."
Dear reader, is corporate prayer a must on your calendar? If not, why?
In Christ, and for the expansion of His kingdom through His [praying] church,
Pastor Ryan
P.S. feel free to read the OT passages such as Daniel 9, Ezra 9, Nehemiah 9, 1 Kings 8, etc. for national gatherings to worship and pray to Yahweh, the God of Israel.
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