07/18/2026
One of the great benefits of church is being together before God with those who seek salvation just as we do, but another powerful attribute is the strength that comes from joint prayer. I am not talking about the recitation of a common prayer, although that is powerful as well, but I am speaking of two or more believers praying in their own thoughts and words for the same thing. If you have ever recited the Lord’s Prayer then you have participated in common prayer, but what about joint prayer with another believer? Have you ever prayed separately, together, for the same cause?
“Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."”
Matthew 18:19-20 ESV
On Monday nights in Nashville, Tennessee, I would come together with two other elders in a quiet room at my church. After a time of coming together, and catching up with one another, we would begin to pray. We started by praying in what I can only call a circle of prayer in which we laid hands on each other, and took turns praying aloud for the Holy Spirit to join us as we prayed for any issues of our church, and for the needs of the other two in the circle. Having prayed in this manner we would begin a time of joint prayer where we separated ourselves by a few feet and prayed individually in unison. I must say that when we are praying in this manner we will move into and out of the consciousness of our own prayers as we hear those around us, and it is thrilling to the point of allowing the Holy Spirit to sweep us back into that closeness with God in which another’s prayers are just a soft distant hum. This is how we would begin our evening of intercessory prayer for others. This is how joint prayer united us as one.
Forming a prayer bond with others in the presence of God is a powerful thing; it unites us as believers just as every individual prayer should unite us personally with God. Such prayers will strip away the divisive things in which we don’t, or can’t, come together in agreement on, and will reveal the core elements of our faith that we can stand unified in. In our secret prayer closets God wants to hear our private thoughts, and settle our separate concerns and needs, but together he wants to hear those things on which we agree, and to strengthen our bond as a family of believers, as a church, and to answer those common and joint prayers we are lifting up as one.
Monday nights were special to the three of us when we met each week in that little room, but this wasn’t limited to such times as this. Try to think of occasions of common and joint prayer in your own life such as reciting a common prayer at mealtime with your family and others, or perhaps the joint prayers of family for a sick child. Press these times together through your faith as if you were sifting them through the baleen of a whale... straining out every tiny blessing that could nourish your spirit, your soul, your relationship with God, with others, and that will lift you to a place that you can’t reach alone. Being alone with God in prayer is magnificent, but the blessings we receive by being together in thought and prayer before Him is divine.
“Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him."”
Genesis 2:18 ESV
From the moment of our creation, it has never been good for us to be alone; not in life, and not in prayer. To this end God gave us one another, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Certainly, there are times when being alone with God is incredibly important, and Jesus did this daily, and often times for extended periods, but in our opening scripture (Matthew 18:19-20) He instructs us specifically on the power of joint prayer. If we can’t come together in prayerful agreement, then how is He to answer our needs? Think about this over the coming days. Are you at odds with someone regarding an issue, or a want? Pray privately for unity as you let the Holy Spirit lead you in God’s Word, and then pray together for provision. Half of the church might want one thing, while the other half wants something different... how can we come together? Prayer is a unifying force as we seek the will of God and pour our thoughts and desires into it like a mold!
Are you there already, or do you need to take the idea of unity and joint prayer into your private closet... into your personal and secret prayers and seek God’s will for you in it? Let’s pray.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the private times I have with you, and the Holy Spirit that joins us there, but thank you from the bottom of my heart for those times of prayer with my brothers and sisters in Christ. Thank you Holy Father for showing me that I am not physically alone in this world, just as I am not alone in the Spirit before you. Thank you for the strength I gather from being together with others in joint prayer, and thank you for the sweet hum and melody of their prayers as I pray individually with them in the Spirit. How magnificent and precious are our times of individual prayer as we pray them together Gracious Father, but how divine are those when I join hands with others in unison, and common cause before you. Hear my prayer, and the prayers of those with me, as we lift up a common need, heartbreak, or issue, before your throne. Hear our prayers as we pray in Jesus’ name and in one voice, one mind, and one spirit, to you. When we find ourselves divided, remove the wedge from between us, and bring us together in spirit before you. Don’t let us become intransigent in our thoughts, and unable to reach accord with others... because if this is so, then how will we ever be more than one as we pray before you? How will we grasp the power of having gathered together with two or three, and what will you hear as we ask for your provision? Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who hears our individual prayers, and powerfully joins them with those of others as one in the name of Jesus.
“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Romans 15:5-6 ESV
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Amen!
Rich Forbes