19 “I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. 20 For where two or three gather together as my followers,
I am there among them.”
There are 2 important things here:
1) There must be an agreement from at least 2 people. When you live in community with other believers you have people around that can agree with you in prayer. That is why small groups and accountability is important.
2) There must be a gathering together in Jesus Name. There’s something powerful when people get together. Some call it synergy, others call it chemistry. I think God calls it His design. Jesus says that when we come together in His name, He is there with us. If He is there with us, we can have the confidence that He will hear us.
There is more to this second part that I think we miss. A lot of times we will give the verbal “I’ll be praying for you,” but we never join them in prayer. We isolate our prayers to ourselves and on our own time. I’ve been thinking about this a lot the last couple of days. There have been many times that I’ll tell someone I’ll be praying for them on that day, or when they go into surgery. I’ll stick a reminder in my calendar and when that time comes, I’ll go to God on their behalf.
But, is Jesus saying that our prayers are more productive, when I “gather” with that person to pray with them? Instead of being the lone-ranger and sending the prayer on my own, should I take the extra step and call that person and agree with them together. Should I make the decision to take the time to drive to the hospital and pray with them and agree together before they go into surgery?
I’m beginning to see that this passage has more meaning to it than what I have practiced.
What step do you need to take to agree together with someone in the name of Jesus? When you do, He’ll meet you there!