The Audience of One

So this morning as I was preparing to go on for the morning worship service something strange happened: I had an epiphany of sorts.

We were in the prayer room preparing our hearts for the ministry ahead with the worship team and our worship leader invited us to pray – nothing unusual about that, but when I prayed I got on a bit of a roll (you know how pastors do) and pretty soon I was getting the odd “yes Lord,” or “please Jesus,” or the good ol’ C&MA “Hmmmm” in response to the words I was praying. I don’t know about you, but if you’re like me that is like throwing fuel on the fire. When I hear people praying in agreement with the words I’m praying I tend to get a little more fired up and lean into the prayer all that much more.

Eventually I was done and it was someone else’s turn to pray and I took a deep breath and moved into a different role in the corporate prayer expression, but it was then that I believe the Holy Spirit spoke to me a word of caution, and a word of correction.

You see prayer, even when done in the context of a corporate gathering, is always with an audience of one. When we pray we are ushered by the virtue of the blood of Christ, into the throne room of grace where the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf to our Heavenly Father the inmost cries of our heart. And when we gather together to pray with our brothers and sisters in Christ we join with them in affirming that their prayers are also our prayers, praying in agreement what we hope is the will of God and what will be for his glory and our edification. But sometimes we loose sight of that.

The Holy Spirit told me in that moment that that is exactly what I had done. I, like the seasoned public speaker that I have become, began playing to the crowd rather than enjoying my audience with THE ONE. God forgive me.

I have to be honest it shook me up in that moment. Flashes of Matthew 6:5, which the CEB aptly puts under the heading “Showy Prayer” and says:

“When you pray, don’t be like hypocrites. They love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners so that people will see them. I assure you, that’s the only reward they’ll get.”

 It was a weird sort of personal precursor to my illustration about being confronted by the Sermon on the Mount from the message I would deliver a short time later on, but God got my attention. In my zeal not to let this moment pass me by I put into practice my WIDOLIF skills from Bible College (Write It Down Or Lose It Forever) and whipped out my iPhone and typed the following words as quickly as I could:

“Audience of one. Prayer for listeners”

Unfortunately that was while someone else was still praying and I noticed that my worship leader caught me doing it so who knows what sort of horrible pastor she must have thought me at that time but the message was received. Right before I was about to go up and begin the service God needed to do some business with me.

That’s my story; but I can’t help but feel like the issue of audience is a big hindrance to a lot of us as we pray corporately. Either we’re comfortable in front of crowds but lose sight of who we’re really talking to as I did, or we’re so cognisant of the crowd that we become incapacitated and unable to pray with others. Whichever ditch the path of your prayer life slopes toward it’s good to be reminded that when we pray our attention is to be directed heavenward, and not around the room; and that the purpose of corporate prayer is not to impress the people we are praying with, but instead to lend our affirmation to their prayers and join with them in praying the will of the Father, and listening for the voice of the Spirit.

I’m thankful that God corrected me this morning and that he gave me several other opportunities today to pray with people after the service and re-orient myself toward him – but what about you? Do you need an adjustment to your audience orientation? It’s an easy thing to get wrong, but it’s an even easier thing to fix. Our God is gracious, by the blood of Christ he has granted you an audience with THE ONE, so that you can pray to an audience of one.