Church/Piety

The Role of Prayer Meetings in the Life of WRPC

Posted on by Carl Robbins

thumb_WRPC Prayer Circles 2015-07-22 023_1024We have four prayer meetings per week at WRPC, so that everyone can find a convenient time to gather with fellow believers for concerted prayer.

We often say that our prayer meetings are “the engine that drives everything else that we do”, for we certainly have no desire to move forward upon our cleverness or the arm of the flesh !

Erroll Hulse rightly said, “The weekly prayer meeting is the spiritual barometer for a local church. You can tell with a fair degree of accuracy what the church is like by the demeanour or substance of the weekly prayer meeting. Is there genuine evangelistic concern? If so it will be expressed in the prayers. Is there a heartfelt longing for the conversion of unconverted family members? If so that is sure to surface. Is there a world vision and a fervent desire for revival and the glory of our Redeemer among the nations of the world? Such a burden cannot be suppressed. Is there a heart agony about famine and war and the need for the gospel of peace among the suffering multitudes of mankind? The church prayer meeting will answer that question. Intercession in the prayer meeting will soon reveal a loving church that cares for those who are oppressed and weighed down with trials and burdens. Those bearing trials too painful or personal to be described in public will nevertheless find comfort in the prayer meeting, for there the Holy Spirit is especially at work.”

As we studied our way thru the Book of Acts in 2013 and 2014 one of the most striking observations we made was that the prayer meetings of the early church were vital.

  • In Acts 1:14 – before the Day of Pentecost – we are told, “they all continued with one accord in prayer.”
  • After Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit nothing changes – they “continued steadfastly…..in prayer” (Acts 2:42).
  • When the early church was being racked with persecution, “they raised their voice to God with one accord” (Acts 4:24)
  • The first church in Europe was born in a women’s prayer meeting (Acts 16:13-15).

Charles Spurgeon, in his marvelous booklet, Only a Prayer Meeting, said, “we shall never see much change for the better in our churches in general until the prayer meeting occupies a higher place in the esteem of Christians.”

Prayerlessness is a root sin. If you are too busy to gather with the saints to pray, you are busier than God wants you to be.

Carl Robbins
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Carl Robbins
Carl is a native of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, a graduate of Crichton College and Covenant Theological Seminary. Pastor Robbins has served churches in South Carolina, Oklahoma and Nevada. In addition Carl has served on the board of crisis pregnancy centers, Christian schools and seminaries. He has spoken to college groups, medical school forums, state legislative groups, seminary chapels and church conferences. His special passion is training pastors in developing countries. Carl and wife Sandy have been married for 37 years(!) and are the parents of three believing, adult children: John and his wife DeAnna and their children (Bray, Emmie Ruth, and Maggie Grace), James and his wife Megen and their children (Jack and Lainey Janice), and Sarah and her husband Andrew Holmes. Carl and Sandy love OU football, big dogs, good Mexican food, and the beach—any beach, any time.