It has been my experience that we have a great God and it is not our great prayers or positive thinking that works miracles but God moving to answer our prayers. And so I have never understood the need for groups of people to pray together about any particular issue. I know that whenever two or more people join together in prayer the Lord is there with them and this is a blessing I can understand anyone wanting to enjoy, but it does not make the outcome any different than if one person prayed, does it? Am I missing something here?
In Deut. 19:15 the Lord said a criminal matter must be established by the testimony of 2 or 3 witnesses. But Jesus applied this in a general sense in John 8:17 to show that His witness and the witness of the Father were sufficient to make His testimony valid.
For a variety of reasons, you and I might lack the conviction that God will answer our individual prayers in a particular matter. Asking a group of believers to agree with us in prayer can really strengthen our conviction.
That’s because getting others to agree with us in prayer serves as confirmation that our request to God is worthy of His attention.
From our perspective, praying with others lends the same kind of authority to our prayers as the testimony of witnesses in a court proceeding. More witnesses equals a stronger case.
According to Matt. 6:8, God knows what we need before we ask Him, yet He encourages us to ask anyway. A group prayer elevates both our own expectation and the expectations of those who agreed with us that we’ll get a favorable response.
Finally, In Matt. 21:21-22 Jesus said the most important factor in our prayer is the belief we have in God’s desire and ability to grant our request. When we know that others agree with us, our belief becomes that much stronger.