Why Pray, pt. 2 January 27, 2015
Allbelievers acknowledge that prayer is a central, necessary part of the Christianlife. Most pray at least a little bit, some more than others. Yet almost allwould admit that their prayer lives are less than what they should be,especially when they think about these examples:
“Very earlyin the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and wentoff to a solitary place, where he prayed.” (Mk 1:35)
“I have somuch business, I cannot get on without spending three hours daily inprayer.” (Martin Luther)
“God doesnothing but in answer to prayer.” ~ John Wesley, a statement which heapplied by devoting 2 hours a day to prayer
For these greatsaints, to breathe was to pray. But don’t let these examples discourage you.God always meets us right where we are and moves us along into deeper things.Our hope should be to pray more faithfully and with more spiritual success ayear from now, rather than feel like total failures right now and forget eventrying. To help us find motivation, here are 5 more reasons to pray (continuedfrom last week):
- Godacts when we pray. Charles Spurgeon put it memorably: “Prayer is the slendernerve that moves the muscles of omnipotence.”
- Jesus modeledincredible devotion to prayer. His high regard for prayer explains why He wouldask His disciples: “Could you not watch with me one hour?” (Mt 26:40)
- Prayer enhancesthe effectiveness of the word (2 Thes 3:1). If we want the word of the Lord to“speed ahead and be honored” in Parker and the surrounding areas, we must pray.
- Prayer mobilizesevangelists, and evangelists spread the gospel, and the gospel producesconverts. In Matthew 9:38, Jesus urges us to “pray earnestly to the Lord of theharvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” God loves to spread His fameall across the globe in answer to the prayers of His people.
- Not prayingensures not receiving. “You do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2).How many blessings have we missed for lack of prayer? Conversely, how manyanswered prayers might we see in the coming months if we would commit ourselvesto “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thes 5:17) and “Be constant in prayer” (Rom12:12)?