Prayer is such a powerful thing that keeps us in touch with God and gives God a channel to work through in order to help those that we pray for. We are instructed to pray for one another:
James 5:16 NIV:
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
I figured I'd give prayer groups a definite try since it's definitely not against God's word and could be something to help this guild grow and practice praying. Yes, I said "practice" praying because prayer is something that is part of our daily Christian lives so why not practice praying for one another? Some of us who don't feel we have the words to say in a prayer may feel, "But I don't have enough awesome words to say. I'll sound stupid," it isn't true! God listens to what we pray for and He understands our heart and hears our cries and praises.
With this, I figured I would start implementing prayer groups. If anyone is interested in signing up for these prayer groups then please post below or send me a PM so that you may be added. I will start by adding 1 person to one prayer group, then 1 to the next, and so forth. We will have 3 prayer groups with a max of 8 people in each prayer group (we will make more prayer groups if necessary so don't let this make you hesitate from joining in on this opportunity)!
*~Rules~*
~Please do follow all the Guild Rules & Guidelines, which can be found by clicking here.
~Each prayer group may come up with a "title" or "name" for their prayer group and to do this - every member from that group must send me a PM or post here saying that they wish for their prayer group to bear a certain title so that I can make sure it's a unanimous vote and the title/name of your prayer group must be Biblically appropriate! If you feel the need to add an explanation of why you chose that title for your group, please feel free to do so smile (There must be at least 2 people in a prayer group to come up with a title). Each prayer group will have their own thread in the guild's Fellowship Sub-forum.
~No requests on which prayer groups to join, please. The purpose of this prayer group is also to pray for those whom we may not even know too well and so that we may get to know other members of the guild better.
~Please, do not be prideful or boastful about your group. I understand that having prayer groups or teams can have people want to say, "Team (prayer group name here)!" or expressing one's prayer team is better than another. I will not accept this because I feel that it provokes competition between other groups, which isn't the purpose of prayer groups. If one person is doing this kind of activity, they will be removed from their prayer group and will have the option to either quit the prayer groups or join in another one, which will be assigned. If the offenses continue, a person may be banned from the prayer groups. If an entire prayer group is being boastful, prideful, and provoking other groups, their group will be taken down completely and there will be a brand new group in place of that, while I will re-assign them to different groups if they have an interest in remaining in a prayer group.
~Prayer groups may communicate in the guild Fellowship Sub-forum, in the purchased guild chat space, over PM, or over Gaia IM.
~Prayer groups that wish to communicate over other instant messengers such Skype/MSN, Yahoo, Ebuddy, Google, or any other method outside of gaia may as it is a personal choice. However, please be aware of Gaia's Safety Tips because they are good Safety Tips to follow, even when on another website or chatspace outside of Gaia. Remember that the guild nor Gaia is held responsible for whatever may happen on a site/messenger outside of Gaia. Communication within the guild and on Gaia is preferred.
~If the majority of the people in a prayer group want to use forms of communication outside of gaia, and even if one person in that prayer group refuses to - that person cannot be made to join in the communication outside of Gaia and may request to switch prayer groups.
~If a person has tried being in one prayer group and has been in that prayer group for at least 2 weeks and requests to switch due to issues, I will gladly assign another prayer group.
~Please click on your group title (Prayer Group One, Two, Three, etc.) to go to their official thread or go to the Fellowship Sub-forum!
~Joining this prayer group is not required to be a part of this guild.
~Guild leaders on the list of prayer groups below are in bold text and they will be the leader of your prayer group.
*Rules may be subject to change*
*~Goals~*
~Pray and be patient and kind to one another. Listen to each others problems and pray together through a source of communication. Also, feel free to look through the prayer request sub-forum to pray for others that aren't in your group. Preferably through the guild chat space or Gaia IM. PM and the threads may also be used for this purpose, although they may not be as quick as instant messaging, they can still be effective!
~Request prayer when you have a struggle in your life, something troubling your mind, or even someone you know who needs prayer. Place your request in your group thread. You may pray as an entire group or in two's. Praying individually is also acceptable at times when the prayer group is unable to be reached for a requested prayer.
~Actively pray for one another as often as you all can get together. Feel free to use PM's if needed even though they are slower so a steady response can be made. Pray for one another often because God listens!
~Yield to God's Kingdom, as we approach His Kingdom everytime we pray. We must humble ourselves before God in a moment of prayer.
