Corporate Prayer Behind the Scenes

I recently read an article by Dr. Grant Osborne in the current Journal of Evangelical Theology entitled, "Moving Forward on Our Knees: Corporate Prayer in the New Testament." It was a very good article tracing corporate prayer in Second Temple Judaism, the Gospels, Paul's epistles, general epistles and Revelation. I have had questions about the benefits, importance and power of corporate prayer for years. Probably most of these questions came from times I have actually prayed corporately at church and felt like it was more trial than victory. There is always the person who feels obligated to pray their knowledge of an OT story (whereas I am praying for a smiting), or the seemingly trivial requests for pet health (I know I am being overly critical here), or the simple fact that we often spend more time sharing requests than praying. All of these experiences together have probably made me groan inwardly about attending group prayer times and then feel guilty about why I don't see it as more important. I greatly appreciated Dr. Osborne's article. It was substantive and gave me several points to ponder. I want to share one of them.

Osborne points out that much of the prayer in the NT is corporate, but it seems masked by the English language's inability to distinguish between singular "you" and plural "you" (this is my summary of several of his observations). Readers from the South will feel they have an advantage here in the word, "You'all" and they do. But since the "Cotton Patch" Bible is not widely read, the advantage is minimal. So as we read a text on prayer and see the word "you", we assume it is speaking to us individually when in reality it is a plural "you" and may be referring to the local assembly.

Here is an illustration. James 4:3 states, "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." (TNIV) All the verbs here are 2nd person plural which means it is more a comment on corporate prayer (although I don't want to rule out the principle applying individually as well). Local churches are not getting what they ask for because they are asking amiss. This fits the context as well because James addresses the church's squabbles in verses 1,2. It is seeing passages like this in a new light that has really challenged me to want to engage in more corporate prayer. I feel like I am missing out on what could be happening. What new ministry could be started based on this passage of corporate prayer? What old ministry can be invigorated or empowered because of this passage? Perhaps our (my) American individualism is ruining an opportunity for the Lord to work through his people in a mighty, corporate way.