Prayer Announcements

By Doug Franklin February 24, 2014

The other day I was visiting the men’s ministry at a local church. Great group of guys having dinner, singing and some good teaching. At the end of the worship set the leader prayed before the pastor came up to teach. The prayer was long because they were lots of announcements. As the leader prayed for the men’s retreat he mentioned to God the need to get registrations in by next Sunday. He also reminded God that anyone could come forward at the end to receive prayer and a New Testament. Not sure why Jesus would need a New Testament, I thought to myself. All-in-all the leader meant well but missed out on the meaning of prayer.

Talking with God is an awesome privilege that sometimes becomes routine and full of Christian cliche. Too often we use prayer to push our agenda forward, such as announcements, rather than asking God for his will in our lives. What is the prayer example you are setting? I love to listen to a mature believer pray because I learn more about the goodness of God from them then I ever do from a preacher. Public prayer can be about our agenda or about our humility, we just have to decide who is our audience.