This year I participated in my first prayer vigil, and let me tell you, it caused me to feel the heartbeat of the church and to love the church in a way that I had never been able to before. Pastors from all Christian denominations from the Inland Northwest decided to have 40 days of continuous prayer for our city. Each church signed up for 24 hours of prayer, so that there was always someone praying during those 40 days leading to Pentecost. I was out of town on the day of Pentecost, so for me, the main event was the actual vigil itself, and how prayer for the specific needs from the people of my church caused me to have a supernatural love for them. I also felt an ownership and a belonging to the church where I had spent all night praying, and a greater responsibility to contribute to the needs of the body of Christ in that place.
There was a sign up sheet with one-hour increments where you could sign up for just one hour. It seemed strange to me because a prayer vigil was supposed to be a group of people that stayed up all night to pray. Most time slots only had one human. So I determined to go for 10 hours. I ended up arriving an hour earlier, so I prayed for 11 hours in the church, with different people who came and went.
It was interesting to be in the church building overnight. Because I understood the needs of the church for the first time, I was able to pray with all my heart and finally hear the heartbeat of the church. I tell you more about it in this audio:
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Tags: Christian Living, church, prayer
What an awesome way for followers of Christ to come together and pray for the needs of the people!
It definitely builds unity in the body of Christ!
That is how it is supposed to be for the Church of God We are our brothers keepers.
We need to pray for one another so that we care. Most people are only preoccupied with their own lives. Christians ought to love like Christ loved.
I think I want to start one at my church now. What a great idea! I always enjoy reading about your spiritual journey!
If you do one, you should have a whole group be together the whole night rather than people coming in one by one for an hour at a time. I like how it was done when Peter was released from prison in the book of Acts, where the church was praying in the middle of the night.
What an awesome opportunity and the fact that you stayed and prayed for 11 hours made it even more special for you and for all the people you prayed with. I can completely understand how this would change your attitudes and feelings towards your church and the people in it. – Amy
Yes, it really did change my perspective and helped me to feel a sense of ownership in the church.
Sounds like a faith moving experience! I’ve done a prayer vigil so learning about this has been inspiring to me!
Glad you were inspired by our prayer vigil!
We have those often here but I personally haven’t been in one in a while. Prayer is so important for us Christians. Right now, my country needs prayer because of Islamic marauders who are killing off and displacing whole communities under the guise of nomadic herdsmen. But we are praying and our God is a prayer-answering God.
It sounds like your country is experiencing a lot of warfare! Praying that everyone will draw closer to Christ, and that God will protect His people.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I’ve never been to a vigil, but it’s very intriguing to me. I love praying personally and with my family, so I can imagine the power that could be felt with a group. I believe prayer is a form of sacred work. It takes concentration and contrition to stay focused. One of my favorite things is sometimes to offer prayers where I simply express gratitude the entire time.
Oh, yes, I love prayers that are full of thanksgiving!