Prayer: The Heart of It All
Why do we pray? Because prayer is powerful, although at times it seems so overrated. We’re saying without saying a word that we are dependent upon God. We are demonstrating that we believe God to do what only He can do.
“The power of prayer cannot be overrated…if you can pray you can do anything!” C. H. Spurgeon
Scott Colvin argues that “Prayer refocuses us on God and not on ourselves or other people. Real power comes from God, not our humanistic abilities or talents. When we pray, we stop believing we’re the only ones capable of solving problems.” No wonder a prayer video comes to this conclusion: “The greatest tragedy in the Christian life is not unanswered prayer but unoffered prayer!”
Is prayer a priority or a problem with you?
Prayer is one or the other. I wonder which it is for you? “To the skeptic a delusion, prayer is a waste of time. To the believer it represents perhaps the most important use of time. Why, then, is prayer so problematic? British pastor Martin Lloyd-Jones summed up the confusion: “Of all the activities in which the Christian engages, and which are part of the Christian life, there is surely none which causes so much perplexity, and raises so many problems, as the activity we call prayer.”
“To the skeptic a delusion, prayer is a waste of time.” Yancey
Believers, on the other hand believe prayer may be the most important use of time. Recently I read Richard Blackaby’s new book, Flickering Lamps, in which he goes through the Risen Christ’s message to the seven churches in Revelation. “For each church, Christ pointed out practices He commended. But then, in five cases, He identified behaviors He found intolerable. The one I would highlight is prayerlessness!
“How sublime it is when Christ has no caveats in His evaluation of a church or individual! However, it is foolhardy to assume we can tolerate one sin as long as most of our activities are praiseworthy. It only takes one sin to make us deserving of judgment.”
“Every church must ask the pivotal question: Are we bringing glory to God by our actions? Do churches have a prayer life? If not, repentance is in order. Any church that is not exalting Christ by its behavior has lost its reason to exist.”
The Pragmatic Question
America Christians seem to want an answer to the pragmatic question: What will prayer do for me or my church? Here’s four responses worthy of consideration.
(1) Prayer will draw you closer to God. The Lord doesn’t just want us to hear His voice; what He wants is INTIMACY with us. That’s why He speaks in a whisper. He woos us to himself with a whisper. Don’t leave your prayer time like a pauper with just enough grace to avert crisis. A wise man or woman leaves with the King himself.” (Small)
God woos us to Himself with a whisper
(2) Prayer changes or transforms us. That is, if we do more than pay lip-service to prayer. Transformation happens when we want a RELATIONSHIP more than a TRANSACTION in prayer. God is interested in more than a transactional relationship with us. He wants a transformational arrangement conforming us into the likeness of Jesus (Rom.8:29).
(3) Enables ordinary men and women to be extraordinary. You may not feel that you are a gifted teacher or worker, but if you pray; if you bring prayer into your preparation and into your class sessions, God will bless in extraordinary ways. God loves to use ordinary people like us to do extraordinary things. When us ordinary people pray, we release the extraordinary power of God to work in us, through us and for us. ordinary people do unexpected things. It helps me to believe that no matter how unremarkable I may feel, God can do something extraordinary with me.
(4) Prayer flicks on the light switch. It was Timothy Keller in his classic book, Prayer, who reminds us that when we “flick the light switch, the bulbs illuminate.” The light switch doesn’t provide the power to the bulbs, “that comes from the electricity. The switch has no power, but rather it connects the bulbs to the power.” This is what prayer does! Some of us may not need a new plan; we need a prayer life! Flip the switch!
Are you a “Chief in Action?”
If you are a pastor or leader in a local church, remember the words of the 6th century leader known as Gregory the Great: “The ruler should always be chief in action, that by his living he may point out the way to those that are put under him, and that the flock, which follows the voice and manners of the shepherd, may learn how to walk better through example than through words. For he who is required by the necessity of his position to speak the highest things is required by the same necessity to exhibit the highest things” (The Book of Pastoral Rule).
The function of a leader is to lead. In leading we must know where we’re trying to go, so we can bend all our efforts to achieve our objective. If we set the right example, the people who follow will walk their paths by the trail we blaze. This is no more true than in the area of our prayer leadership. Surveys have revealed that the average lay person spends four minutes a day in prayer. It’s not much better for pastors who used to spend 10-15 minutes a day praying. Now it’s down to 5 minutes.
“If prayerlessness is the worst sin, the only remedy is repentance.” P.T. Forsythe
What word best describes you? Prayerless or Prayerful? A prayerless Christian regards prayer more as a duty than a delight. I’ve come to see that prayer is a privilege, not a duty. Like all good things, prayer like any regimen requires some discipline. But life with Jesus should seem more like friendship than an obligation. “If prayer stands as the place where God and human beings meet, then I must learn about prayer.”
Prayer should be a matter of grace, not guilt! We should be drawn to God by love, not always driven by necessity, simply because we long for His presence. Delight, however, makes prayer itself the main agenda. Prayer has features in common with all relationships that matter.
“Prayer is a life-altering force.” P. Douglas Small
Like all good things, prayer requires some discipline. This is not “a mindless routine” nor even a meaningless discipline. But I hope that establishing your sacred place and going there every day would make “your obedience more heartfelt,” your “blessing even richer,” and “eternal fruit more abundant.”
Are you committed to making time with God more important than ministry in His behalf? You will represent Him more credibly, the more time you spend with Him – and that will invite His signal Presence in and around your work of making Christlike disciples.
Expect no pushback to prayer if you don’t pray.
Christians who pray get no resistance, but those who do should expect it. Don’t give in to the subtle temptation to quit praying because you don’t feel like praying. Prayer should be done regularly, persistently, resolutely, and tenaciously at least daily, whether we feel like it or not! We must stick with this spiritual regimen through the ups and downs of feelings.
Don’t allow resistance to keep you from praying. Keeping us from praying has to be one of Satan’s most effective tools. His arsenal is chock-full of flaming arrows of busyness. Much has been written on “the intoxication of busyness.” If you find yourself locked on “the treadmill of busyness,” this probably explains why you feel so barren spiritually.
Patricia Engler asks a question worthy of a response: What if there was one little action which, if you practiced it regularly, could revolutionize the way you tackle (ministry)? What if it could heighten your effectiveness in every area of existence, including family, work, and relationships? What if it helped you walk wisely, speak rightly, live well, love more, worry less, impact your world, and step more fully into the life you were designed to live?
So let me share five ways you can amp up your prayer life:
(1) Make friends with a friend(s) who prays. One person praying alone is heard. But when we pray together, we amplify the power of prayer. Practice personal and partnered prayer.
(2) Stop. Drop. Pray. Practice praying both scheduled and spontaneous prayer! When somebody asks you to pray, stop what you’re doing and pray then and there.
(3) Listen to Christ-exalting music. As you’re reading Scripture, if a hymn or song comes to mind (even if you struggle to remember the lyrics) Google the phrase and bring up the words and song. It will bless you when you sing along. Celebrate his presence. Glorify him. Give voice to the deep sense of his presence.
(4) Add fasting to your prayers. If fasting accelerated answers to prayer would you do it? When you add fasting to your prayers, “that extreme in-your-face statement to the devil,” he gets disturbed…and defeated…often through distraction, because he knows fasting releases God’s power.
(5) Find your unique niche for prayer. Whatever the specifics, find what works for you and enjoy increased intimacy and communion with God as well as extraordinary power and effectiveness…especially when you find yourself in a cave of worries and troubles… because there is power in prayer.
Bring prayer into the heart of all you do.
