My small group, prayer, and smoke-filled bonfires

“But if anyone obeys His word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.” 1 John 1:5-6Every other Sunday night, my husband and I join together with 5 other couples (a group of people that happen to be our closest friends), and we call this our small group. We meet together, pray together, study God’s Word together, and I pray that we each walk away looking a bit more like Jesus every time. I know that my time spent with all of them is always uplifting and inspiring. Last night was no different.We gathered together, and for nearly 2 hours, we laid hands on one another and lifted each other up in prayer. It was a beautiful and powerful night. As we went around the room and shared with each other some significant issues going on in our lives, I couldn’t help but think about what an amazing representation it was of the body of Christ functioning as it should. Believers coming alongside of one another – broken, hurting, and flawed, but coming together nevertheless and believing in the power of prayer. We laughed, we cried…well, ok I cried…and I believe we left last night with lighter hearts and deeper faith.You see, to love Jesus means to love His people. What better way to love one another than to carry each other’s burdens to the Lord in prayer? If we love Jesus and claim to “live in Him”, we must act, speak, live, and walk as He did. He cared for those around Him. He took time to know their needs and to meet their needs. To be “in Him” and to walk as He did is to love others more than yourself. I think we did that last night in my living room. I think we rallied around one another, loved one another even through the messy and the awkward and the ugly, and I think that in and through it, God was glorified and we were edified.One of the many things I love about our small group is that we not only dive deep into God’s Word when we meet, but we also just love each other’s company and have fun together…over a bonfire in my tiny backyard that was really more smoke than fire, but s’mores were still eaten, and fun was had by all.Do you have a community of believers that continually point you towards Christ? Even Jesus recognized the importance of community, so He gathered His own “small group”, a.k.a. the 12 disciples. Get into a Christ-centered community. One of the many blessings you’ll find therein is prayer…and maybe late night s’mores if you’re lucky.