Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
— 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 Tweet
Ministry of Prayer
Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.’”
— Luke 11:1–4
Prayer also plays a key role in our Lord’s Day worship services. We begin our services with a prayer of invocation — that is, a prayer asking for the Lord’s presence to enter in among His people as they gather to worship and glorify Him. A little further along in the service, we again go before the Lord and prayerfully confess, asking Him to remove our many sins, by placing them under the blood of Jesus our Savior. We also bow before God’s gracious throne during the service to pray on behalf of various praises, needs, and requests related to our congregation, Christ’s Church worldwide, and for our local, state, and national situation.
Our ministers employ prayer just before they begin their sermons, in order to ask for God’s blessing upon the preaching of His Word. The sermon is usually concluded with prayer as well — asking the Lord to bless His Word and its proclamation to the hearts and minds of those who heard it read, explained, and applied to them. The effectiveness of any effort to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ is dependent upon the work of God through the Holy Spirit within the hearts of those He chooses to affect. This process demands that our ministers earnestly seek God in prayer — before, during, and after the Word is delivered.
Public worship at Hope is also dependent on the faithful prayers of members throughout the week leading up to the Sunday services. Just as the minister seeks the Lord’s Spirit during the week for his sermon preparation and for his delivery of the Bible’s content during the corporate worship service, so also should the members of our congregation lift up in prayer the upcoming week’s services, asking that Holy Spirit richly bless our time together as God’s covenant family gathered together to praise Him.
Prayer Room
We believe that God uses His praying people to exercise much of His will upon the earth. Prayer is powerful, when offered in agreement with God’s will, and He uses it to accomplish much in our daily lives. Hope Presbyterian Church encourages its member families to be in regular prayer for its members, friends, and any others who have needs.
This section of Hope’s website seeks to enable our members, and anyone else who has a request, to submit a prayer need or praise to our church office for the use of our pastors and elders in prayer. We long to serve people in difficulty through this vital ministry of intercessory prayer.
If you have a prayer request for a member of our staff or an elder, please type your request and e-mail it to Hope at secretary@hopepca.org. Let us know if you would like your request to remain confidential. Requests we receive that are not marked confidential may be included in our e-mail prayer ministry notices to our member families who have committed to pray for intercessory requests. Confidential requests are viewed only by our staff and elders.
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who his sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous person has great power.”
— James 5:13–16