Persistent Prayer

 PERSISTENT PRAYER

“... mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.” - Isaiah 56:7

Leonard Ravenhill once said, “No man is greater than his prayer life.” If that is true of a man, how much more is this true of a church. A church is no stronger than the prayers that fortify her ministry.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the foundation of the church, Jesus Christ. Since then, I've been writing about the seven pillars of a healthy church. So far, we've examined Biblical leadership, meaningful worship and powerful preaching. Today, we are looking at persistent prayer.

While nearly church has a time of prayer carved out in their order of service, it usually turns out to be a minor aspect of the service. Prayer is often just another line in the church bulletin. Certainly, we would never consider having a church service without some kind of prayer being offered, but we tend to give it little consideration.

The Lord stated that His house will be called a house of prayer. Notice He didn't call it a house of singing or a house of preaching. It is a house of prayer. But somehow prayer has decreased drastically in our churches. There is a difference between a church that prays and a praying church. A church that prays may intercede for a specific request, but a praying church is constantly at the throne of grace, calling on the Name of the Lord. A praying church is a powerful church.

How can a church become a praying church?

PRAYER MUST BE A PRIORITY

For a church to become a praying church, the leadership must make prayer a priority. Ron Dunn once said that a church will never rise above the spiritual level of its leadership. That is true. The members tend to become passionate about the things the pastor is passionate about. If the pastor is apathetic concerning prayer, the church will follow his example. Instead, if he prioritizes prayer, the congregation will also tend to emphasize prayer.

When you read the book of Acts, you'll find that the early church made prayer a priority. They sought God's help and it make a difference.

In our day, prayer meetings have become a thing of the past. The result is rather obvious. Even though we believe that prayer should be conducted at every church service, I am not convinced that most church members believe that God will answer when they pray. If they truly believed that God responds to the prayers of his people, we would make prayer a priority, not just at church, but in our private lives as well.

PRAYER MUST BE PLANNED

Like everything else, time must be set aside time for prayer. While I strongly believe that there needs to be times of extemporaneous prayer, we need to properly plan for prayer. We shouldn't be haphazard about this matter. If we fail to plan, we will fail to pray.

PRAYER MUST BE PERSISTENT

Finally, we must be relentless in our pursuit of God and His blessings. We need Him every moment. Prayer needs to be a regular aspect of our church services. We should give quality time for this necessary practice. There are many things we may wish to include in a church service, but if prayer is reduced or removed, we do so to our own ruin.

Although the church needs to be a house of prayer, every home represented should be a house of prayer as well. If you are a follower of Jesus, you should be a man or woman of prayer. I've found that most people want to enjoy the fruit of fervent prayer, but they don't want to invest the time in prayer itself. Someone needs to step up and be a prayer warrior in these final days.

Why shouldn't this person be you?