Praying Out Loud All at Once

When I was a child, for nearly two-and-a-half years after arriving in Australia, I attended a mainline denominational church, with my parents. 

In that particular church, I only ever heard people pray one-at-a-time. Others would silently listen, and maybe say 'amen' when they finished—then it would be another person's turn to pray.

In those days the Charismatic Renewal was happening, and my parents, and others from the church, often also drove to a neighbouring city to attend meetings at a Charismatic church. Then my parents and others helped start a Charismatic church in our city—and that's where I got saved, about a year later at the age of 12½.

In the Charismatic church, when the people prayed together they often all prayed out loud at once. That was different—and it felt power-packed! 

There were moments when some would spontaneously 'lead-out' in prayer too, one-by-one, and everyone else would go quiet enough for them to be heard—but afterwards everyone would often resume praying out loud together. 

I was newly born again and filled with the Spirit, so I just joined in! It felt quite natural and appropriate—and effective. 

(Praying in unison like that was a feature in Yonggi Cho's church, in Seoul Korea, too—the world's largest church; or, as Dr Cho used to say, also the world's smallest church: because it comprised of so many cell groups. 

Pentecostals often prayed that way: out loud, all at once.)

We also prayed in 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴 out loud together. During such moments no-one was addressing the congregation 𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦, in tongues: everyone was just praying 𝘵𝘰 𝘎𝘰𝘥 out loud at once, in tongues. 

If any felt inspired to actually address the congregation in a tongue—or with a prophecy—they'd go forward to the mic., or in a smaller group just speak-out with a little more intention of speaking to the group—or actually what often happened was that everyone just seemed to sense it when someone had something special, so everyone would go quiet and allow them, then someone would interpret. But much of the time everyone was just praying in tongues at the same time, out loud, speaking to God not to men. 

The congregation also 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘨 in tongues. At the end of a congregational worship song, often the whole congregation would spontaneously begin singing their own new songs, out loud, all at once, to the Lord, either in their own words with their understanding, or in tongues, and it all harmonised together.

Sometimes individuals would also sing for the whole congregation to hear, while everyone listened—but afterwards the whole congregation would often then pick up the song of the Lord together, and sing out loud all at once again. 

All of that is entirely Scriptural—it isn’t at all indecent nor disorderly—it is edifying—and in all those years I never encountered a single unbeliever who concluded that everyone was mad. Rather, many felt impacted by the reality of God’s presence among us, and got saved. 

On the other hand you sometimes come across 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴, not unbelievers, who seem to stumble because of a certain take on what Paul was talking about in the letter he scripted to the church at Corinth: 

𝐈 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟏𝟒:𝟐𝟑, 𝟐𝟕,𝟐𝟖

𝟐𝟑 𝐈𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝? 

𝟐𝟕 𝐈𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐞, 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐰𝐨, 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞; 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭. 

𝟐𝟖 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡; 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐨𝐝.

𝘉𝘺 𝘵𝘸𝘰, 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦, he wrote—and only if it's 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘥. 

Remember though that Paul was writing to address a specific scenario: his words were intended to be understood as answering 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 issue, not some other scenario.

Plus, his advice would not have contradicted what he himself had been involved with at Ephesus, nor what the Spirit had done in Cornelius' household, nor at Samaria, nor at Jerusalem. The Word of God doesn't contradict itself. 

At Ephesus, for example, Paul baptised certain disciples, then he himself laid his hands on them, and they were each filled with the Spirit and spoke with tongues and prophesied—"about twelve" of them, it says!  

Before that, in Cornelius' household, the Spirit fell (while Peter was still speaking, mind you!), and they were filled with the Spirit and spoke in tongues, and magnified God—not only relatives, but also near friends—"many" had come together, it says.

At Samaria also, Peter and John laid their hands on the newly baptised-believers, and the Holy Spirit came upon them in an observable and tangible way—it mentions almost "all" the "people of the city"!

In the beginning at Jerusalem, in the upper room, they were all filled with the Spirit and spoke with tongues, declaring the wonderful works of God—the number of the names together were "about an hundred and twenty"! 

Speaking of prayer, in Acts 4:24 it says, "...when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord"—a whole "company" of them, it says. 

(Notice also that on both of those occasions at Jerusalem, something happened both to the 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 and to the 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 or 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 where they were sitting or assembled:

In chapter 2, it says that "all the house" where they were sitting was filled with the sound of a mighty rushing wind from heaven, then "they" were filled with the Holy Ghost; and 

In chapter 4, when they'd prayed, it says "the place" was shaken where they were assembled together; and "they" were all filled with the Holy Ghost. 

House, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 people; place 𝘢𝘯𝘥 people—something tangible happened to 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩. 

That's Scriptural too! There can be a tangible sense of God's special presence in a 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦, as well as the 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 all getting filled with the Holy Ghost. I've seen it happen, both.)

In Matthew 26:30, it says they sang a hymn—presumably a known song—out loud together, at once. Psalm 96:1 also said to sing unto the Lord a new song. Ephesians 5:19 said not only to sing Psalms and hymns, but also 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 songs. In I Corinthians 14:15, Paul explained that he sang with his understanding, and also with his spirit—that is, in tongues. That's one way to sing a spiritual song: sing with your spirit—in tongues! 

In David's tabernacle numerous people went on prophesying with musical instruments, in shifts.

Also in Old Covenant times, there were instances where the Spirit came upon many (even up to seventy people, on occasion) and they all spoke at once, prophesying! 

On more than one occasion, when Saul came among a company of prophets, he suddenly began prophesying with them, all at once, and didn't stop. One time he even spent all night on the floor! 

You're going to see people ending-up on the floor under the glory of God at times, when the anointing is outpoured. 

The advice Paul scripted to the Corinthians, "𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦..." (𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 29) wasn't intended to contradict what the Spirit of the Lord did on numerous previous occasions. 

On each of the above occasions, in the Old Testament or in Acts, many spoke, prayed, sang or performed with musical instruments—aloud, all at once—either with understanding, with prophesying or in tongues. No-one was addressing a congregation, 𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦. It was a general outpouring of the Spirit upon a group, or the group as a whole were speaking mainly to God, not so much to men.  

Whereas if you can imagine a room where individuals are jostling against each other, each vying to hog the chance to stand up and hold the floor, expecting an entire congregation's undivided attention, and proceeding to address the whole congregation directly, at length—without any regard for whether or not the audience are understanding it, nor whether anyone else also might have something to announce, and butting in if anyone else tries to have their turn—lacking even common sense and manners, caring only that he appears spiritual. That would be a bit more like what was happening at Corinth. 

As far as I can ascertain from the text, it's almost like the difference between 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 and giving a 𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 or a speech—speaking to God versus speaking to men. 

When God's Spirit is poured out on an entire assembly, and everyone gets filled and speaks or sings to the Lord, out loud at once, that's one thing—and Paul's advice to the Corinthians was not to discourage that nor to negate the validity of it. 

But if you're going to give a speech to an audience, then some things should be common sense! Paul's advice to that was therefore practical, not spiritual—so practical that any rational person, even unbelievers, would already know it and expect it: public addresses should be understandable; speakers should politely take their turn; and the goal, obviously, should be that the audience get something out of it. Every rational, considerate person should have known that, was what Paul was saying.

But when it comes to ministering to the Lord, praying, singing, worshiping, it's okay for a congregation to do so all at once, out loud, whether with understanding or tongues. The Bible contains numerous examples of a multitude doing something with one voice. 

𝐈𝐈 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝟑:𝟏𝟕

𝟏𝟕 ...𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐲.

That’s entirely compliant with the norms of human society and culture. Every sensible person knows there’s a protocol that applies when individuals address an audience that needn’t otherwise apply among a crowd.

In a secular stadium for example, it’s okay for everyone to carry-on chatting to their companions, or to yell out loud at once, even in different languages—but if too many were trying to hold the mic. doing that, addressing the whole crowd, it’d be bedlam!

Even traditional liturgies involve congregations speaking and praying out loud at once. But while a homily is given, the people of course hold their peace. 

That’s really just common sense. It’s okay during corporate worship for every one to speak to God at once.

With all that freedom of expression in the spirit that we enjoyed, it often felt as if the very presence of God's throne came and filled both the place where we were gathered, and our hearts!

𝐏𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐌 𝟐𝟐:𝟑

𝟐𝟑 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐲, 𝐎 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥.

And that often resulted in "the manifestation of the Spirit," in the meetings—which is "given to every man to profit withal" (see I Corinthians 12:7).

Praying or singing out loud, all at once, in a meeting—either with understanding or with tongues—audibly but not obtrusively, can help bring the participants in the meeting into a deeper place in the river together.

"𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘵𝘩, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘵𝘩, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦, 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦" (𝘌𝘻𝘦𝘬𝘪𝘦𝘭 47:9).