The Church is a place of prayer

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Acts 2:42

This verse contains the most complete, yet succinct description of what a New Testament church is about. The verse can be divided into six descriptions of what kind of place the Church is to be. Let’s consider the sixth of of six.

6. The Church is a place of prayer. When He was driving out the merchants out of the temple, Jesus said the house of the Lord is to be a “house of prayer” (Matthew 21:13). I wonder what the Lord would say if He were to show up physically to the average evangelical church. Our churches (and I include ours) are often houses of musical worship. Houses of preaching. Houses of fellowship. None of those are bad. These are, in fact, all very good and necessary.

But (all too often) where is the prayer?

There is an adage that says, “If you want a low turn out, announce a gathering either for evangelism or for prayer.” Why is that? We could say a lack of commitment, or maybe an abundance of commitment—to things other than prayer. But might the root of the problem (and it is a problem) be the fact that none of us understands how important prayer is? I think I understand it as well as most, and yet when I am too busy to pray, or am tempted to abbreviate my prayer time, am I not failing to understand how essentially important prayer really is?

The same is true regarding group, or corporate prayer. Prayer meetings (along with evangelistic events) are almost always poorly, if not pathetically, attended. I do not think the answer is to rally the prayer troops by begging or challenging people to commit to being there. I think it is to suggest that we all pray that God would work into our hearts a deeper understanding of how much we need to pray.

John 15:5 & 7  5  “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing...  7  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”

James 4:2  “…you do not have because you do not ask.”