“If you do not know that life is war, you will not know what prayer is for.”
John Piper
Do you know that life is war? Sometimes I think we forget that we are involved in a battle of cosmic proportions. We tend to think our battles are against city hall, or the White House or the media or immoral lifestyles. We forget that scripture says,
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” – Ephesians 6:12 NASB
That brings a second question implied in John Piper’s statement – Do you know what prayer is for?
I fear a prayerlessness has permeated the church, not just our but most Christian churches. We don’t pray because we secretly think we don’t need God. Now, we would never say that aloud, but our lack of serious prayer proves the point. We think we can handle our problems on our own. We think we are okay here in Fort Smith, in Arkansas, in the good ole’ USA. But, we are not safe. The whole world is a spiritual battlefield, and every Christian is on the frontlines every day.
In Acts 4, the church faced a serious crisis. Peter and John were arrested and instructed not to preach anymore in the name of Jesus. The early believers had to answer the question, “What do we do when a hostile world attempts to shut you up?”
It is fascinating and instructive that at this crucial moment – they prayed! More specifically, they got together as a church and had a prayer meeting. They participated in united, fervent, scriptural, believing, specific prayer. Two things stand out to me. First, in their prayer they proclaimed their absolute confidence in God. Secondly, they demonstrated a sanctified stubbornness. Rather than praying for less persecution, they prayed for more boldness. In essence, they asked God for more of what got them into trouble in the first place.
Why don’t we pray like that?
If we desire to see God use us, if we desire to see God use South Side Baptist Church, if we desire to see lives transformed, if we desire to see God move among us to the point that it is obvious that it was God, we must not only learn to pray, but we must PRAY.
We began, this past Wednesday, a study that I fear may result in less participation on Wednesday evenings. We began a 26 week emphasis on prayer. A question we will seek to answer is, “What should a prayer meeting look like?” Not only do we desire to understand the importance and purpose of prayer, but we will put into practice what we learn.
We must learn to pray as if our lives depended on it – because they do. We must learn to pray as if our church depended on it – because it does.
O Lord, teach us to pray. Amen.
Remember:
September 12 is National Back To Church Sunday! National Back to Church Sunday is a day set aside each year on the second Sunday of September when thousands of Bible-believing Christian churches encourage their members to invite their friends, family and neighbors back to church. Research shows that 82% of unchurched people are open to attending a church if invited by a friend, and yet only 2% of churchgoers invited someone to church in the past year. Back to Church Sunday provides the perfect opportunity for people everywhere to rediscover church and for those in church to take the opportunity to invite them.
Churches who participated in last year's Back to Church Sunday event saw, on average, a 19% increase in attendance. This campaign is based on a simple idea: if you ask un-churched people to come with you to church, most likely they'll say yes.
Who will you invite BACK TO CHURCH?
