For the past 16 weeks, our ministry staff team working with graduate students met online Monday-Friday every morning from 9:30 AM-10:00 AM. At the most, 12 of us gathered, and we rotated leadership every morning. We took the first 10 minutes to visit and share about our lives. Then, someone led a 10 minute devotion through a passage of scripture of their choice. Finally, we prayed through the topic addressed in the devotion for the last 10 minutes.
Personal updates, promises from scripture, and prayer together: a simple formula that brought so much joy.
I especially loved learning from the older staff members. I learned from their wise insights in scripture. I listened to their mature prayer. I thought about walking with Jesus for the next thirty years as they have. Then, I went about my day.
This prayer group sustained me as I transitioned back in March to online teaching and felt depleted of every resource. The devotion on Jesus feeding the 5000 and multiplying whatever resources we offer Him changed my whole perspective that day. This prayer group helped us all grapple with systemic racism as we prayed through Isaiah’s call to work against oppression along with our staff living in the heart of the protests in Minneapolis. This prayer group prayed me through the end of the semester, through my daughter’s graduation, and through the building of a summer garden. Prayer became the rhythm of the morning and the wisdom for godly living.
I think the early gathering of believers in Acts must have felt this way as they shared their lives and daily prayer. I’m excited to find ways to continue gathering others in prayer like this online, especially if we return to a COVID-19 isolation situation.