Meeting regularly with one or two others for support & prayer…
– What’s the point?
People meet in Prayer triplets or partnerships for a variety of reasons – but we recommend that the primary aim of meeting with one or two others in a prayer partnership is to encourage and deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ, and to help each other to become more like him.
Why might praying with others help? We all have times when the road seems very steep; times when we get discouraged and want to give up. When we can’t see how God is at work in our lives. Sometimes we just get stuck in a rut, times when our faith begins to get lukewarm.
Jesus wants us to support and encourage each other. In fact in his own ministry Jesus chose just 3 disciples to share his deepest secrets with. We cannot share our longings and fears and difficulties with a large group – even a fellowship group. If we are going to be really honest about things we are struggling with, and about our Christian life and walk with God, we can only begin to do so if the people we share with are people we can trust completely – people who also share their difficulties and failures with us.
A prayer partnership can help us in a number of ways:
- In a prayer partnership we can begin to be honest and share where we really are. Often getting things off our chest, having someone listen to us, is an encouraging process in itself. This can make all the difference if we are going through a particularly difficult time. Can be a healing experience.
Often as we talk things out we can begin to see things in a new light and sometimes we may begin to see where the problem lies and what can be done about it. All we need is for someone to listen – someone we can trust. “A problem shared is a problem halved” – there’s a lot of truth in this! - In a prayer partnership we can pray for each other in the areas we are struggling with. To have someone pray with you about such things is really comforting – and that is even before the prayers are actually answered!
- In a prayer partnership we can look out for each other. One or two others have a pretty good idea of what is going on underneath the surface – and they can keep an eye out for us. Real support.
- In a prayer partnership we can be accountable to one another. If we have shared with others our desire to ask God to change us – then it’s a strong incentive to be faithful when we know others will check up on us!
LITTLE & OFTEN !
- Since there are only 2 or 3 of you, meeting up to share and pray will not take up a whole evening. Meeting for an hour or so maybe all that is needed.
- And because there are only 2 or 3 of you, you can be flexible about when and where you meet. So you can fit it in around and between other activities. Because of that you could meet up once a week or fortnight without adding a huge burden to your already busy schedule!!
The important thing is to meet up regularly
- So that problems and discouragements can be tackled quickly and
- To help us form a habit of being open to God about things he might want to change in us
FINALLY… some basic tips:
- Everything that you share together is in ABSOLUTE confidence.
- Make sure that prayer does not get squeezed out with all the talking!
- Appoint someone as the ‘convenor’ to make sure you keep meeting! (and fix several dates)
- Review how things are going – ring the changes – keep being creative – enjoy it!
A prayer partnership is to help us to keep going in life – and growing in Jesus, through all the ups and downs, challenges and discouragements we experience.