Surrounded by Prayer

When I think of the word "surround" I can visualize many different things around the house. Surrounding yourself with a blanket makes you feel cozy and warm. Surrounding yourself with beautiful things gives you visual pleasure. Surrounding yourself with books gives one a sense of adventure.

The word "surround" also causes me to think of many different people. One has the feeling of being surrounded by family during the holidays. Another is being surrounded by friends at a wedding or other special event. Yet another is being surrounded by people of faith in the church.

Surrounding our loved ones, our friends, and our church family with our love, our help, and our support gives them a wonderful feeling of being someone important and worthwhile.

The Bible scriptures read "My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations." Mark 11:17. If we truly want our church to be a House of Prayer, we need to surround it, immerse it, and saturate it with prayer.

There are many, many different ways to do this. One activity I personally felt led to participate in was a Prayer Walk. If we pray while we're walking, then we are physically, mentally, and spiritually surrounding our church with prayer.

If you will, please try to visualize this. Imagine a circle of prayer around the church. Now imagine our entire church family, one by one, encircling the church with prayer. If 2 or 3 people surrounding the church with prayer is meaningful, then imagine what God could do for our church if all of us surrounded the church in prayer!!

Dear God,
Please teach us all the ways that we can pray for our church, our leadership, and our church family. Please protect our church from harm. Please help us to remember to saturate and to surround our church in prayer. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

by Dana Holder Collins
October 18, 2006