On Sunday July 27th, the gospel reading was the Lord’s Prayer, and both the sermon and the Bible study after the service focused on God calling on us to pray to Him for whatever it is we need. Following the class one of our members asks me a follow up question: Jesus said, “if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven (Mathew 18:19).” Does this mean having two or three people praying makes a prayer more effective?

What a great question! Do the numbers of people praying for something affect God's response? But first we need to look at the context of Matthew 18:19.

In this passage, Jesus is addressing how the church should respond to a brother or sister who has fallen into sin. If he will not listen to correction, it will be lovingly necessary for the church to exclude him from the congregation, with the hope this action will bring him to repentance. In this instance Jesus is not speaking about prayer in general but assuring and comforting the church that when it makes important decisions, that He is present with them in making their decision.

The question then remains: Do the numbers of people praying for something affect God's response?

Throughout Scripture, we are called to pray by Jesus, by the prophets, by the apostles.

Sometimes we pray by ourselves in our secret closet (…go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret… -Matthew 6:6). Other times we are instructed to pray as a group. “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him… (James 5:13).”

To answer the question, it would appear there are times that God waits for more than one person to pray for something before He responds, such as when the church prayed for Peter after he was arrested (Acts 12:5-9). Yet Daniel alone offers a prayer to God that He would forgive His people and bring them out of exile and back to the land (Daniel 9).

Since we do not know His divine will, we should not think that more people praying is necessary for Him to hear the prayer. Yet, since we are called to share one another’s burdens, we should faithfully pray for each other in every need. And whether it is one, two, or many people praying, we can trust that God hears our prayers and trust Him to provide for us according to His good and gracious will.

✝️ Pastor Deming

The full newsletter can be found here:
https://www.faithmoorpark.com/files/pdf/2025/2025-08-Newsletter.pdf