A House of Prayer
By Larry Barker, Director • Healthy Church Solutions
Executive Editor’s Note: This is the fourth in a series of six articles focused on “Prayer for Our Association.” (See the March 6, 13 & 20 issues for the first three articles.) The Baptist Trumpet is partnering with Healthy Church Solutions and inviting your church to intentionally set aside time to pray for our association before the national meeting. See more details at the end of this article.
Jesus was devoted personally to prayer, challenged His disciples to pray and called for His house to be known as a house of prayer. Have you devoted yourself and your church to the same passion and pursuit of prayer without ceasing? In Col. 4:2-3 (HCSB), Paul challenges the leaders and the churches there to “Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the message....” The word devote translates “ceaselessly active” and is a challenge to never stop or quit praying. It is a call to courageously persist, to hold fast and to not let go.
Samuel Chadwick said that “Prayer is the acid test of devotion!” What a privilege it is to be able to pray for one another, other churches, ministries and the mission purpose of the BMA. As we approach our national meeting, April 16-18, this is a call to be “alert” and accept the challenge to be known as a house of prayer. Now is not the time to be lethargic or sluggish in prayer, but to look for opportunities where you can actively engage in petitioning the throne room of God. The goal of this prayer initiative is simply to develop and deepen the habit of believers, leaders, churches and our association coming before Him daily and persistently.
Here’s the problem: we talk about prayer, we encourage others to pray, but do we pray? Because of the supernatural element of prayer, it is an unnatural lane for us. That is why we must learn to pray, and the greatest classroom for prayer is praying. Apparently, God believes we need to pray with no intermission (I Thess. 5:17), to “never” stop praying and to be constantly in fellowship with Him. Prayer in our spiritual life should become as normal as breathing is in our physical life. The key to your spiritual life and ministry is to maintain uninterrupted time in prayer with your Lord.
Henry Blackaby states it well, “Prayer is not getting God to help us with what we are to do, it is getting us in line with what He is about to do!” God desires to do great and mighty things through you, your church and our association. Are you willing to commit to a laser-focused season of prayer for all of the above? The heart of Jesus while He was here on earth was to learn His assignment in communication with the Father (Mark 1:35; Luke 6:12; Luke 22:42), and to reverently surrender to it. Henry Blackaby reminds us, “Knowing the heart of God is to know the will of God.” Jesus taught us to pray “Thy name,” “Thy kingdom” and “Thy will.”
Here are some prayer commitments penned by Dr. Thom Rainer:
• Commitment #1: God, open my eyes that I might see my church as You see it. Let me see where change needs to take place, even if it is painful to me. And use me, I pray, to be an instrument of that change, whatever the cost.
• Commitment #2: God, please let me be part of the solution and not the problem. Show me what I need to see. Open my eyes to Your reality, and give me the courage to move forward in the directions You desire.
• Commitment #3: God, give me the conviction and the courage to be like the heroes of Hebrews 11. Teach me not to hold onto those things in my church that are my personal preferences and styles. Show me not only how to let go, but where to let go, so that I may heed Your commands more closely.
• Commitment #4: God, give my church and me a heart for our community. Let me see the people through Your eyes, and give me the courage and the wisdom to let go of this church, so that others who best reflect this community can lead us and teach us.
• Commitment # 5: Lord, help me to grasp that all the money I think I have is really Yours. Help me to grasp that all the money our church has is not the church’s, but Yours. Give us healthy giving hearts to use these funds according to Your purpose.
• Commitment #6: Lord, remind me that I am to be a Great Commission Christian in a Great Commission church. Remind me that, in Your strength, I am to do whatever it takes to reach out into my community with the transforming power of the gospel.
• Commitment #7: Lord, open my eyes to the needs of others. Show me how to live more like Your Son, who always put others’ interests first, and especially show me that attitude as I serve in my church.
• Commitment #8: God, please give our pastor a heart and a vision to reach and minister to people beyond our own walls. Teach me to be the kind of church member who encourages and supports our pastor, so discouragement and disillusionment does not lead to departure.
• Commitment #9: Lord, teach me to pray. Teach me to pray consistently. Teach me to be a leader in prayer in my church, and teach me to keep passionate and believing prayer as the lifeblood of this church.
• Commitment #10: God, reignite the hearts of our church members, including me, to have a passion for the gospel. Teach our church to share the gospel with others. Teach us to live as men and women who are true bearers of the good news of Jesus Christ. Remind us of our purpose. Convict us of our purpose. Empower us to live our purpose.
• Commitment #11: Lord, teach me the proper stewardship of all the material items You give me personally and in my church. Help me never let that stewardship evolve into obsession and idolatry, especially where I lose my perspective on what really matters.
This a call to action for intentional prayer for ourselves, one another, for your church to be known as a house of prayer and for our associational work together!
Details about the Call to Pray for Our Association
Here is the schedule leading up to April 16-18. Be on the lookout for specific ways to pray for our association in the upcoming weeks and start planning now how you will participate on the Sundays of April 7 and April 14.
• April 3 — Specific ways to pray for our association this week.
• April 10 — Specific ways to pray for our association this week.
We ask every church in our association to commit to praying for our association. We invite you to devote a specific time of prayer during the morning worship services on April 7 and 14 (the two weekends before the meeting). If you are led to do more, other possibilities would be to organize a dedicated time of prayer (i.e., a special prayer service, all members commit to pray at the same time every day, 24 hours of prayer, etc.) outside the morning service sometime during one or both of those weekends — whatever would work for your church.
However you choose to participate, we would love to know that you will choose to do so. Please email Heidi Sorrells with Healthy Church Solutions at heidi@bmaglobal.org and let her know that you will join in and how you plan to participate. She can also provide you with additional resources for organizing your church’s prayer times, if needed.
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Larry Barker
Director of Church Planting and Church Health Larry Barker submits a weekly column titled, Healthy Church Solutions, designed to strengthen and encourage the local church.
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