After I lead a prayer meeting with a worship team, prayer team, or both, I always take some time to debrief with them– to encourage each other, clarify confusion, etc. I always like to be able to tell my team that we did it; we had a successful prayer meeting.

So what makes a prayer meeting successful?

There are definitely some things that make a prayer meeting easier or more enjoyable, such as:

• Skilled singers and musicians
• Articulate prayer leaders
• A decent sound system
• A streamlined communication model
• Songs that people like
• Catchy choruses

But from God’s perspective, at the end of the day, those things don’t define success. In my opinion, there are a handful of things that are characteristic of a successful prayer meeting that have nothing to do with any of the externals like talent or room setup.

“For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”
(1 Samuel 16:7)

1. Hearts Devoted to Worship

First and foremost, we want to bring God a pure offering of worship. This includes doing our best to fight against distraction to set our focus completely on Him. It’s the easiest thing in the world to lift our hands and close our eyes with our minds and hearts still whirling with a hundred other thoughts and emotions that are not helping us love Jesus. Until we see Jesus face to face, we will always have some degree of distraction and mixed motives, but our desire must always be to set our hearts completely on Him.

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
(John 4:23-24)

2. Hunger and Reach

God is mostly just looking for a genuine reach. He’s not interested in performance; He just wants a humble heart that earnestly longs for Him. No matter how weak it is, as long as we’re reaching in our spirits for Him, we’re doing it right.

In the Song of Solomon, the King tells the bride, “You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes.” (Song 4:9) His heart is so moved by even just one glance in His direction. Even on days when I don’t feel like I have much to give, I always have enough strength for one weak glance.

“For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
(Psalm 51:16-17)

3. Agreement with God

Worship and intercession are both about agreeing with God. Worship is agreeing with who God is, and intercession is agreeing with what He wants to do. Then when we add the prophetic dimension, we’re agreeing with what the Holy Spirit wants to do in the moment!

When we gather in corporate prayer and worship, we want to agree with what’s on God’s heart. This doesn’t mean we always need some huge prophetic revelation (although we always want to ask for more), but we want to be reaching to come into alignment with what we already know God wants to do.

The simplest way to do this is to pray Scripture. Check out my blog on praying the apostolic prayers.

4. Love. Unity. HUMILITY.

One of the quickest ways to make a prayer meeting unsuccessful is for the people serving to lose their love for each other. One of Jesus’ final prayers before He went to the cross was that we would walk in unity (John 17:21-23).

With a worship team serving on a prayer meeting together, we always want to start with a briefing to get on the same page about the direction of the worship and prayers. Then during the flow of the meeting, we need to be aware of preferring each other in the midst of whatever moments happen. It might be a worship leader who takes a nervous singer’s antiphonal phrase and encourages them to develop it into a chorus. It might be a prayer leader who lets the enthusiastic visitor pray on the mic in an unusual style. We listen to each other, support and encourage what each other brings to the table, and at times choose to go low and restrain our own ideas to lift up someone else.

TIP: Sometimes love and humility looks like what we call “serving the room”– thinking about how your leading will help those in the room to engage. Especially in a small prayer room, it can be fun to tailor your songs and prayers to the people in the room! If there’s a mom in the room, pray for moms. If you have an older couple who don’t seem to be connecting with your newer songs, try pulling out a few oldies.

“complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”
(Philippians 2:2-3)

“…walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
(Ephesians 4:1-3)

When I asked this question on Instagram, my friend Alexus (currently a missionary at Sarasota House of Prayer, which I spotlighted in February) had my favorite answer.

Success is so simple. It’s within reach for every single person. We say “yes” to Jesus, we talk to Him, and we exalt His name. And we do it in love and humility toward one another. It doesn’t have to be the most musically stunning or most articulate set ever– if the hearts are genuine, Jesus loves it.

More favorite responses from Instagram:

[Responses have been edited for clarity.]

“What makes a prayer meeting successful?”

@inspiringpassionforjesus – That we prayed/sang what God led us to and not just our own ideas or agenda. That we exalted Him and His working above praying from a tilt toward what the enemy was/is doing.

@asanchezmama: SHOWING UP!!

@jeremy.jarvis2019: I think success is everyone genuinely coming with a heart that is hungry for his presence and then reaching and engaging with God from the heart together, regardless of circumstances or if there is a “good team” etc…

@carmel_ella: Knowing that we prayed the heart of God and touched His heart in that place of divine partnership (like Mary of Bethany) …our weak “Yes” even the tiniest whisper is heard by God – so our prayer may be weak/not so fancy/we may not have the proper language/words for it but if our hearts are sincere and open, it counts.

@sanchandygrams – Hearts in pursuit. Agreenment with who He is and what He wants to do.

@jacksonbrown – When someone shares their heart with the Lord unashamedly

@acker.jayden – When there’s unity of heart in the room and greater grace to reach

@ms.adriana.galvan – When our hearts connect with the Father

“What makes a prayer meeting UNsuccessful?”

@inspiringpassionforjesus – Preaching at people (or God!) instead of actually praying to God. Not actually engaging in prayer during the prayer time.

@asanchezmama – Oh man, not showing up…

@jacksonbrown – praying with a hidden bias unaligned with His heart or desires

@sanchandygrams – staying unrepentant. Stewing with offence or unforgiveness toward someone

@dbensosa – Disagreement or discord, we gotta be in one accord

@cinorya – distraction in the mind

@mac_maddi – NOT GIVING YOUR ANXIETY AND STRESS TO JESUS