As the new Prayer Director at Cornerstone Church of Blaine, I am going to be posting articles on prayer in this blog in the hopes of educating and encouraging our congregation.  Prayer is an essential part of the Christian life.  It should bathe every event and work of Christian service.  I believe it should actually precede any efforts the church body undertakes.  The same is true in our personal lives as we determine the areas of service in which we are going to participate.  At first glance it appears that Jesus Christ found many opportunities to pray while performing the work of His ministry on earth.  I challenge you to look at this in a different way and discover how it changes your outlook on prayer.  Rather than looking at the life of Christ as prayer intermixed in His ministry, look at His life as times of prayer that bookend the works He performs.  Jesus Christ was in regular fellowship with the Father and stated, "Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner." (John 5:19 NASB)  And again in the Gospel Jesus says, "He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.  For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.  I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me." (John 12:48-50 NASB)   I believe Jesus Christ communed with the Father and then went forth and did, and said, what the father instructed Him to do, or say.

There are many things that cross our paths daily, as they did His, that we must deal with on the move as decisions need to be made instantly.  We need to be in regular communion with the Father so we can accurately follow the leading of the Holy Spirit when the situations arise in our lives.  In the book of Ephesians, chapter 2 and verse 10, we read, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."  We must be at the ready to perform the good works that God will place in our path for us to do, including being in communion with God.  Also in chapter 6 of Ephesians, Paul instructs, "With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit," as he calls on the believers to put on the full armor of God and be alert with perseverance.  If we desire to live our lives fully for Christ, our personal prayer lives need to be ongoing in a living relationship with the Living God.

The following is stated in the Reaching Up section of our Five Year Vision:

Bullet 2:    A praying church.  (Ephesians 6:18)
We desire to be a church filled with people who are dependent upon God through prayer as opposed to being self-reliant.   Self-reliance is more akin to pride whereas dependence upon God honors Him.  This spirit of dependence is portrayed in how people pray.  We desire to be a church where individuals have a vibrant prayer life where prayer is saturated through all of our meetings and where corporate prayer is well attended.  We would like to be “a house of prayer!”

The following is stated in the Christian Living section of our Statement of Faith:

We believe that God's justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.

In addition to our personal prayer lives, we have numerous examples of corporate prayer from which we can learn.  Corporate prayer is simply coming together with others for the purpose of seeking God in prayer.  The disciples and the early church gathered frequently to pray together and we at Cornerstone believe that the example is to be followed in our church life as well.  Our 2009 church goal is, "We desire for Cornerstone to be dependent upon God through prayer and reading and applying His word."

a. Goal: To have a majority of adults to come at least once to our monthly corporate prayer meeting and for the majority of us to increase our time in prayer.

b. To have the majority of adults increase their reading and applying of God's word.

There are multiple opportunities to participate in corporate prayer at Cornerstone.

• The monthly corporate prayer meeting is on the 2nd Wednesday each month.
• The monthly community prayer meeting is on the 4th Thursday each month.
• The weekly prayer before the Sunday service for the various Sunday morning ministries.
• The small groups prayer time.

There are multiple opportunities to pray for one another.

• In the small groups.
• In the community group, Prayer Warriors.
• In the forum, Prayer Closet.
• One on one with a prayer partner or at a church function or service.
• Being part of the prayer chain.

There are multiple opportunities to request prayer.

• In the community group, Prayer Warriors.
• In the forum, Prayer Closet.
• On the welcome cards in the bulletin at the Sunday service.
• In small groups.
• One on one with a prayer partner or at a church function or service.
• New prayer request form on the members page to the Pastor or to the prayer chain.

We seek to have a vibrant body that is doing the work of God, bathed in the power of prayer. We look forward to having you join us either within the group or by praying along with us from afar. Let's seek God together and witness Him working in our midst.