«　WEEK 7　DAY 6　»

　　Acts 12:5 …. Peter was kept in the prison; but prayer was being made fervently by the church to God concerning him.

　　Heb. 10:24 And let us consider one another so as to incite one another to love and good works,

　　Matthew 18:19-20 says, “If two of you agree on earth concerning anything, whatever they may ask, it shall come to them from My Father who is in the heavens. For where two or three are gathered together…” Here the Lord is speaking concerning the prayer of a meeting. This kind of prayer is more powerful than the prayer of an individual, being able to bind on earth what has been bound in heaven, and to loose on earth what has been loosed in heaven…. [In Acts chapter 12, we see that] on the day when Peter was imprisoned, the church prayed fervently for him…. That prayer caused God to perform a great miracle, delivering Peter out of prison. (Life Lessons, Vol. 2, pp 96-97)

　　The basic requirement for brothers and sisters to pray together is to be in one accord. In Matthew 18 the Lord tells us to be in harmony, that is, in one accord. The prayer in Acts 1 was also a prayer in one accord. Hence, the first condition for carrying out a prayer meeting is to have the one accord…. How can our prayers be in harmony? ….What we see in the Bible is men praying for specific matters…. When the subject is specific, it is easy to pray in harmony.

　　Another basic requirement is to be genuine in our prayer…. Genuine prayer is the result of a desire that comes from the heart. It is something that flows out from our inner being. Genuine prayer is not made up of flippant and nice words. Only genuine words that flow out from the deepest part of the heart can be considered as genuine prayer. The goal of our prayer should be an answer from God rather than pleasing the brothers and sisters. (New Believers Series: Meeting #10)

　　The proper group meetings should consist of two sections. The first section should include fellowship, intercession, mutual care, and shepherding, and the second section should carry out the perfecting of the saints through teaching. In the first section of the group meeting, the attendants should fellowship concerning each person's present spiritual condition and practical environment. This fellowship should not be by only one or two persons. All the attendants should make their situations known to the others in each meeting…. After fellowshipping about each other's situations, the attendants in the meeting will spontaneously be stirred up to intercede, to pray, for one another. This prayer…. will be sincere and practical. After the fellowship and prayer, the attendants in the group meeting should extend their loving concern for one another in the exercise of a definite and practical care…. Hebrews 10:24-25…. say, “And let us consider one another for inciting to love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom with some is, but exhorting one another….” …. Considering one another, inciting one another, and exhorting one another cannot be accomplished in the big meetings. They can be carried out only in the small group meetings.

　　The purpose and goal of the group meetings is the perfecting of the saints through teaching in mutuality…. The way to have the proper teaching in a group meeting is not by waiting for an assigned teacher to speak. Rather, the best way is to teach by asking questions. There are no assigned teachers in the group meetings; all the attendants are teachers…. The sisters.... can [still] teach in the way of exhortation…. In this way every attendant in the group meeting can teach, regardless of how little he can do. Each answer to the questions raised in a group meeting becomes part of the teaching in that meeting. (The Practice of the Group Meetings, pp 45-48)