Men tap into power when they pray
March 21, 2006
This is the story of a men’s prayer group at a Missouri Southern Baptist church.
The name of the church is not important. The size of the church is not important. What is important is that the men of this church do indeed pray regularly, intentionally and biblically for things in life that matter.
These men wake up early on Tuesday morning, get in their cars and drive to the church just before 6 a.m. They carefully back into their parking spaces so as to position themselves for takeoff after they pray. For these are men who love to eat a good and hearty breakfast, so they head on down the road to a local restaurant and gather in a downstairs room that is set aside just for them.
Funny that how no matter what happens during the week, the number of men praying in this group, give or take a soul or two, generally amounts to a dozen. Some weeks there are 10, other weeks 8 or 13, but usually, without fail, it boils down to 12. The tribes of Israel and the apostles of Jesus numbered 12, so 12 would certainly seem to be a good number for a men’s prayer group.
The senior pastor shows up. So does the associate pastor. Mostly the group is made up of seasoned citizens, and most of the seasoned citizens are deacons. I am one of the few “young pup” deacons in the group.
We pray for a lot of sick people. I would hate to calculate the number of times we have prayed for people with cancer. We also pray for soldiers, missionaries, politicians and special events. We pray in pairs, on our knees, for a list that each one of us makes in his own writing. We pray out loud even if we are scared to death to pray out loud. We keep it simple and direct, and then we go eat.
I have been a true believer in our blessed Lord for 25 years, and I have never been a part of a more righteous meeting. For the church that does not have a men’s group that meets regularly, may I offer this meeting as a model? The principles found within the Tuesday Morning Prayer Breakfast are true to Scripture and a wonder to behold.
For the most part in life, I am a meat-eating, Daytona-loving NASCAR conservative, but every now and then I like to order a veggie omelet. Some Southern Baptists would have a problem with that, but these men on Tuesday morning have always loved me unconditionally. Praise God for His kind and tolerant NASCAR men!
Men of Missouri, pray together! The beauty of prayer and the boldness of prayer are precisely what we need to conquer the kingdom of darkness by focusing more intentionally on the kingdom of the Master. Pray for the blessed and long-awaited Second Coming of the Holy King of the nations. (Allen Palmeri is senior writer for The Pathway.)