Prayer in Christian preaching is depicted as a vital, faith-filled communication with God that fosters trust, revival, and spiritual breakthrough (Philippians 4:6-7). Illustrations often use images of persistent, humble petitioning, the power of agreement in 'amen,' and the transformative effects of prayer on individuals and communities (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
I have a thousand times tested the effectiveness of sudden prayer in moments of difficulty, when confronted with a little temptation, when overwhelmed with irritation, before an anxious interview, before writing a difficult passage. How often has the temptation floated away, the irritation mastered itself, the right word been said, the right sentence written! To do all we are capable of, and then to commit the matter to the hand of the Father, that is the best that we can do.
"More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of." And you know the conclusion of the poet. "For so the whole round world is bound by golden chains about the feet of God." We are passing through days of unrest and of great depression. The manager of a large corporation said in my hearing, "I have just come from our annual meeting and I was never so depressed in my life." Pessimism abounds and the hearts of many grow faint. But have we not an antidote to all that? Our Lord spoke "a parable to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint" (Luke 18:1). Confidence over discouragement, divine strength over tribulation, patience having her perfect work in the trusting soul of man.
Prayer is the experience in which ideals are born. Sincere prayer brings a person to his highest peak of worth. When pouring his heart forth to God his spirit is most sensitive to the Divine Spirit. So it is that God's will for character and career is often most clearly felt and seen in the very moments of prayer. There flash upon us at such times glimpses of our possible selves.
Oh, when shall we learn the sweet trust in God that our little children teach us every day by their confiding faith in us? We, who are so mutable, so faulty, so irritable, so unjust; and He, who is so watchful, so pitiful, so loving, so forgiving! Why can't we, slipping our hand in His each day, walk trustingly over that day's appointed path, thorny or flowery, crooked or straight, knowing that evening will bring us sleep, peace and home?
-Phillips Brooks
The means to this end are, first of all, the one which Christ commands when He says, "Enter into thy closet and shut thy door, and pray to thy Father who seeth in secret" (Matthew 6:6). Private prayer, the quiet isolation in the chamber, where we may look into our own souls and weigh the value of things passing in the balance of eternity, where we may speak to God and feel how blessed to get away from the world, and how awing the fact is "Thou has searched me and known me; Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising," and then to pour forth our desires for holiness and for conformity to His unutterable glorious way. Oh! surely without such habits as these the whole religious life must become shallow, mechanical; a thing of opinions, doctrines, disputes, rather than the abiding blessedness of those who are in communion with God.
Some years ago a poor woman, accompanied by two of her neighbors, came to my vestry in deep distress. Her husband had fled the country; in her sorrow she went to the house of God, and something I said in the sermon made her think I was personally familiar with her case. Of course, I had known nothing about her. It was a general illustration that fitted a particular case. She told me her story, and a very sad one it was. I said: "There is nothing that we can do but to kneel down and cry to the Lord for the immediate conversion of your husband." We knelt down, and I prayed that the Lord would touch the heart of the deserter, convert his soul and bring him back to his home. When we rose from our knees I said to the poor woman, "Do not fret about the matter. I feel sure your husband will come home; and that he will yet become connected with our church." She went away, and I forgot all about it. Some months after she reappeared with her neighbors and a man, whom she introduced to me as her husband. He had indeed come back, and he had returned a converted man.
On making inquiry and comparing notes, we found that the very day on which we had prayed for his conversion, he, being at the time on board a ship far away on the sea, stumbled most unexpectedly upon a stray copy of one of my sermons. He read it. The truth went to his heart. He repented and sought the Lord, and as soon as possible he returned to his wife and to his daily calling. He was admitted a member, and last Monday his wife, who up to that time had not been a member, was also received among us. That woman does not doubt the power of prayer. All the infidels in the world could not shake her conviction that there is a God that answers prayer. I should be the most irrational creature in the world if, with a life every day of which is full of experiences so remarkable, I entertained the slightest doubt on the subject. I do not regard it as miraculous; it is part and parcel of the established order of the universe that the shadow of the coming event should fall in advance upon some believing soul in the shape of prayer for its realization. The prayer of faith is a divine decree commencing its fulfillment.
Dr. Adoniram Judson, while laboring as a missionary, felt a strong desire to do something for the salvation of the Jewish race. But his desire seemed not gratified; even to his last sickness, he lamented that all his efforts in behalf of the Jews had been a failure. He was departing from the world sad with that thought. Then, at last, a gleam of light thrilled his heart with grateful joy. Mrs. Judson, sitting by his side while he was in a state of great languor, read to her husband one of Dr. Hague's letters from Constantinople. That letter contained some items of information that filled him with wonder. At a meeting of missionaries at Constantinople, Mr. Schauffler stated that a little book had been published in Germany giving an account of Dr. Judson's life and labors; that it had fallen into the hands of some Jews, and had been the means of their conversion; that a Jew had translated it for a community of Jews on the boarders of the Euxine, and that a message had arrived in Constantinople, asking that a teacher might be sent to show them the way of life. When Dr. Judson heard this, his eyes were filled with tears, a look of almost unearthly solemnity came over him, and, clinging fast to his wife's hand, as if to assure himself of being really in the world, he said, "Love, this frightens me; I do not know what to make of what you have just been reading. I never was deeply interested in any object, I never prayed sincerely and earnestly for anything, but it came; at some time-no matter how distant the day-somehow, in some shape, probably the last I should have devised, it came!" What a testimony! It lingered on the lips of the dying Judson; it was embalmed with grateful tears, and is transmitted as a legacy to the coming generation. The desire of the righteous shall be granted. Pray and wait. The answer to all true prayer will come. In Judson's case the news of the answer came before he died, but it was answered long before.
When a pump is frequently used, but little pains are necessary to have water; the water pours out at the first stroke, because it is high. But if the pump has not been used for a long time, the water gets low, and when you want it you must pump a long while, and the water comes only after great effort. It is so with prayer; if we are instant in prayer, every little circumstance awakens the disposition to pray, and desires and words are always ready. But if we neglect prayer, it is difficult for us to pray, for the water in the well gets low.
I tried when I was a boy to be rebellious, but there was one thing I could never get over. I never could answer my mother's love and character. My father was an intemperate man, and my mother, when made miserable by his brutal treatment, would lead my little brother and myself to a spot under a hillside, and kneeling there, would commend us to God. Hardship and her husband's harshness brought her to her grave. At the age of twenty-one I was vicious, hardened, utterly impenitent. Once I found myself, near the home of my boyhood, and felt irresistibly moved to take another look at the little hollow under hill. There it was as I left it; the very grass looked as if no foot had ever trod it since the guide of my infant years was laid in her early grave. I sat down. I heard again the voice pleading for me. All my bad habits and my refusals of Christ came over me and crushed me down. I did not leave the spot till I had confidence in my Savior. My mother's prayers came back in answers of converting grace, and I stand today the living witness of a mother's faithfulness, of a prayer-hearing God.
You remember the story of the godly family whose home lay across the track a returning army was expected to follow, when flushed with victory and athirst for destruction and blood. "Be a wall of fire unto us, O God," was the prayer which the father put up as he knelt at the household altar before retiring for the night, and having thus committed himself and his circle to the hands of a preserving God, he and they together laid them down in peace, and took their quiet rest, knowing who it was that made them dwell in safety. The nightwatches hastened on, morning came, and the family awoke. All was unusually dark and still when they rose. There was no light from chink or from window nor sound of stirring life around. Noiselessly, and all unseen, the hand whose protection they craved stole forth from the wintry heavens, not, indeed, in the shape of a wall of fire, but in something as sufficient and safe-in wreath upon wreath of driven snow. Meanwhile the foe had passed by, and had gone on his way, and those whom he threatened breathed freely, for they knew that their tabernacle was at peace.
I shall never forget what the late Dr. A. C. Dixon, of Spurgeon's Tabernacle, once said when speaking upon this theme of prayer. I cannot quote him verbatim, but the substance was this: "When we rely upon organization, we get what organization can do; when we rely upon education, we get what education can do; when we rely upon eloquence, we get what eloquence can do, and so on. Nor am I disposed to undervalue any of these things in their proper place. But," he added impressively, "when we rely upon prayer, we get what God can do."
At sixty years of age Dr. A. T. Pierson was not too old to learn, and, with humility and an eager thirst after knowledge, he listened as George M_ller of Bristol gave detailed testimony to show God as a hearer and answerer of prayer. In one of these interviews he asked Mr. M_ller if he had ever petitioned God for anything that had not been granted.
"Sixty-two years, three months, five days and two hours have passed," replied Mr. M_ller with his characteristic exactness, "since I began to pray that two men might be converted. I have prayed daily for them ever since and as yet neither of them shows any signs of turning to God."
"Do you expect God to convert them?"
"Certainly," was the confident reply. "Do you think God would lay on His child such a burden for sixty years if He had no purpose for their conversion?"
Not long after Mr. M_ller's death, Dr. Pierson was again in Bristol, preaching in Bethesda Chapel. In the course of his sermon, he told of this conversation, and as he was going out at the close of the service a lady stopped him and said: "One of those two men, to whom Mr. M_ller referred, was my uncle. He was converted and died a few weeks ago. The other man was brought to Christ in Dublin."
From The Life of A. T. Pierson
A poor woman stood at a vineyard gate and looked over into the vineyard. "Would you like some grapes?" asked the proprietor. "I should be very thankful," replied the woman. "Then bring your basket." Quickly the basket was brought to the gate. The owner took it and was gone a long time among the vines, till the woman became discouraged, thinking that he was not coming again. At last he returned with the basket heaped full. "I have made you wait a good while," he said, "but you know the longer you have to wait the better grapes and the more." So it is sometimes in prayer. We bring our empty vessel to God and pass it over the gate of prayer to Him. He seems to be delaying a long time, and sometimes faith faints with waiting. But at last He comes, and our basket is heaped full with luscious blessings. He waited long that He might bring us a better and a fuller answer.
-J. R. Miller
From Making the Most of Life
One day a little five-year-old girl, about five years old, heard a ranting preacher praying most lustily, till the roof rang with the strength of his supplication. Turning to her mother, and beckoning the maternal ear down to a speaking-place, she whispered: "Mother, don't you think that if he lived nearer to God he wouldn't have to talk so loud?"
Years ago a devout woman of Scotland prayed earnestly that her son might be called to the ministry. He grew up to be an earnest Christian man, and in the very morning of that manhood began to prepare for the high calling to which he seemed destined. But before his preparation was complete, he decided that he was not called of God to this work. He left school and entered a bank. He continued to the end of his days a financier. He died, successful and rich. The mother's prayer was not granted.
But when her son's will was read, it was found that his large fortune had been left to the endowment of what is now the Kentucky Theological Seminary. By this not one, but many ministers are given in answer to the Scottish mother's prayer.
For that prayer, though not granted, was answered.
It often happens that prayers of parents for their children are answered long after the loving pleaders have gone home to heaven. Dr. Theodore L. Cuyler tells how a certain Captain K-, when he sailed on his last sea voyage, left a prayer for his little boy written out and deposited in an oaken chest. After his death at sea his widow locked up the chest, and when she was on her dying bed she gave the key to their son. He grew up a licentious and dissolute man. When he reached middle age he determined to open the chest out of mere curiosity. He found in it a paper, on the outside of which was written, "The prayer of M-K-for his wife and child." He read the prayer and put it back into the chest, but could not lock it out of his troubled heart. It burned there like a live coal. He became so distressed that the woman with whom he was living as his mistress thought he was becoming deranged. He broke down in penitence, cried to God for mercy, and, making the woman his legal wife, began a new life of prayer and obedience to God's commandments. And so God proved to be the rewarder of a faith that had been hidden away in a secret place a half century before.
One of the great secrets of effective prayer is that the attitude of the heart shall be right toward God. The heart that recognizes the divine wisdom and love and trusts to them will pray as simply as a child asking help from its mother. One of the most beautiful prayers I have ever read is that of F,nelon: "O Lord! I know not what I should ask of thee. Thou only knowest what I want; and Thou lovest me, if I am Thy friend, better than I can love myself. O Lord! give to me, Thy child, what is proper, whatsoever it may be. I dare not ask either crosses or comforts. I only present myself before Thee. I open my heart to Thee. Behold my wants, which I myself am ignorant of; but do Thou behold, and do, according to Thy mercy, smite or heal, depress me or raise me up. I adore all Thy purposes without knowing them. I am silent; I offer myself in sacrifice. I abandon myself to Thee. I have no more desire but to accomplish Thy will. Lord, teach me how to pray. Dwell Thou Thyself in me by Thy Holy Spirit. Amen."
In regard to the moral sentiments and the affections, men know that by education certain parts of the mind learn to diffuse their influence gently, and almost continuously, through the experience of life. We live habitually under the influence, direct or indirect, of certain of our feelings. And to "pray without ceasing" means, not that we are literally to iterate and reiterate without cessation the words of prayer, but that we are to give to this praying tendency of the mind the education that we give to taste, to kindness, to conscientiousness and to understanding. We are to make it not an occasional but a uniform tendency, so that even when we are not praying by direct volition there will be a latent impulse towards conversation with God, felt through all the soul.
A father hears that his child has prayed that God would give him a sled; and in order to confirm the child's trust in God he buys a sled, and slyly puts it in the child's room the next day, and so cheats the child into a lie, teaching him to believe that he can pray for sleds, and have his prayers answered.
But men have found out that in all spheres except the spiritual God acts only generically, leaving germ forms, primitive organizations, to work out their own functions under human volitions. And even spiritual effects are produced through natural-that is, God-ordained-principles.
In one of the old cities of Italy the king caused a bell to be hung in a tower in one of the public squares, and called it "The Bell of Justice," and commanded that anyone who had been wronged should go and ring the bell, and so call the Magistrate of the city and ask and receive justice. When, in the course of time the lower end of the bell-rope rotted away, a wild vine was tied to it to lengthen it; and one day an old and starving horse that had been abandoned by its owner and turned out to die wandered into the tower, and in trying to eat the vine rang the bell. The Magistrate of the city, coming to see who rang the bell, found this old and starving horse. He caused the owner of the horse, in whose service he had toiled and been worn out, to be summoned before him, and decreed that as his horse had rung the bell of justice he should have justice, and that during the remainder of the horse's life his owner should provide for him proper food and drink and stable. The weakest spirit can ring the prayer bell, and if rung with confident faith in the love and power of God, shall not be in vain. "For everyone that asketh receiveth" (Matthew 7:8; Luke 8:10).
There is all the difference in the world between saying prayers and praying. Scores of men pray who are not religious in the sense that the word is ordinarily employed. All aspiration is prayer and all real prayer is the spontaneous expression of the soul's hunger.
Prayer is a kind of door to the treasure house of God, and it is of infinite importance that we should know how to open that door and enter into possession of the wealth of God.
Do not let us degrade prayer. I have heard people talk about prayer as if it were a kind of errand-boy sent to fetch something. Prayer is something more than simply talking to God. It is not only getting but giving, not only speaking but listening.
A little lad in Central Africa had learned to read the New Testament in the mission school. Some time later the Roman Catholic fathers persuaded him be baptized into the Roman Church. They gave him a medal to wear, on which was a representation of the Virgin. "It will be easier for you to pray when you look at that," they said, "and the mother of Jesus will pray to her Son for you."
Several months passed, and the boy returned to the evangelical mission. Asked the reason, he said, "I read in the Gospels that Mary lost Jesus when she was on a journey; so I thought, If she forgot her own little boy, she will surely forget me, so I am going to pray straight to Jesus."
The story is told of a minister who called at Johnnie's house, and in the course of the conversation he asked him, "Do you pray every night, my boy?" "Naw," Johnnie replied, "some nights I don't want anything."
Some people share this selfish view of prayer. Prayer is not only for personal petition-it is for confession, praise, thanksgiving, worship, and intercession for others. Prayer is a ministry of supplication for others and adoration of God, as well as requests for self.
Much that perplexes us in our Christian experience is but the "answer" to our prayers.
We pray for patience and God sends tribulation, for tribulation produces patience (Romans 5:3).
We pray for submission, and God sends suffering, for we learn obedience by suffering (Hebrews 5:8).
We pray for unselfishness, and God gives us opportunities to sacrifice ourselves by thinking on the things of others (Philippians 2:4).
We pray for victory, and the things of the world sweep down upon us in a storm of temptation, for "this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith" (1 John 5:4).
We pray for strength and humility, and some messenger of Satan torments us till we lie in the dust, crying to God for its removal (2 Corinthians 12:7-11).
We pray for union with Christ, and God severs natural ties, and lets our best friends misunderstand us and seem indifferent to us (Matthew 10:34-39; John 15:18-20).
We pray for love, and God sends peculiar suffering, and puts us with apparently unlovely people. He lets them say things which rasp the nerves and lacerate the heart, for "love suffereth long, and is kind" (1 Corinthians 13).
A little boy, not more than eleven or twelve years of age, somewhat delicate in health, and rather backward, once went to a large public school. The first night that he slept there, when they came to go to bed, he glanced timidly round the room to see what other boys were doing, and then he saw how first one and then another got into bed without saying their prayers. And then it came into his head that he should look singular if he knelt down and said them, and that after all he might just as well say them in bed; and Satan whispered that if we pray with all our heart it does not matter how or where we say our prayers, or whether we kneel or not. But just as he was hesitating there flashed into his mind those words of our dear Lord, "Whosoever therefore shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 10:33). And so, after a short, sharp struggle, he took courage and knelt down. Then there arose such a shouting and howling, such a volley of oaths, such a tempest of sounds as might well have daunted a brave man, much more a weak and timid boy. But he held his ground. Shoes, slippers, anything and everything that they could lay hands on, were thrown at him; he was reviled, and mocked, and threatened. And so it went on night after night; as soon as he knelt down the room was in an uproar, the same insults and injuries were heaped upon him. But he bravely and quietly held on. Wherever he went among his school-fellows he was jeered at as "the boy who said his prayers." At last, however, by degrees first one and then another of his school-fellows began to take his part; then they began to follow his example, and to kneel down and say theirs. And so by slow degrees, in that school, where, when he first went, none of the boys knelt down and said their prayers, they all did so. The good example of one brave boy changed the practice of the whole school.
There is an old-world proverb, "What is well begun is half ended." It refers, of course, to success in some specific work. To bring success into a day, the wise course is to begin it at the throne of grace. A morning sacrifice of this sort is due to God. But still more is it needful for us to have guidance, strength, and usefulness through the day's duties and temptations. Reader, do not fail thus to begin the day, not in mere form, but in sincerity of soul.
According to John Hall: "The prayer of the Seventy-third Psalm may well be uttered by a believer. How truly may one say: 'Lord, make me meek and lowly; show me my own heart in the light of Thy holy law, that it may be contrite. I have need of guidance at every step of my way. Guide me by Thy counsel, that I may be saved from errors of judgment and from practical mistakes. Impart unto me the wisdom that cometh from above, that I may discriminate between the good and the bad, between the service of Christ and the service of the world, and conduct me at length to the kingdom of Thy glory, for Christ's sake. Amen.'"
Guests came together at a dinner table and the host said, "Let me offer a bone of a prayer." Is that what you are offering to God?
George MacDonald was born in 1824, in the Scottish Highlands. He was a teacher, pastor, father, lecturer, and writer. MacDonald's writing was so powerful that a better known C. S. Lewis would say, "I have never concealed the fact that [MacDonald] was my master."
MacDonald loved prayer. He once said, "Never wait for fitter time or place to talk to Him. To wait till you go to church or to your room is to make Him wait. He will listen as you walk."
Often when prayer is unanswered, it's due to infrequency and lack of intensity. We offer mere bones of prayers and expect God to be impressed by our meagerness. The employee who asks for a raise often receives based on his intensity. The child is granted requests because of his tireless pestering. In a discourse on prayer to his disciples, Jesus suggested that: "They should always pray and not give up" (Luke 18:1 NIV. Are you making God wait to answer your request because of your lack of enthusiasm?
Reflections
What is prayer? Has every prayer power with God? Let us endeavor to get some clear ideas on that point. Some people seem to regard prayer as the rehearsal of a set form of solemn words, learned largely from the Bible or a liturgy, and when uttered they are only from the throat outward. Genuine prayer is a believing soul's direct conversation with God. Phillips Brooks has condensed it into four words-a "true wish sent God-ward." By it adoration, thanksgiving, confession of sin, and petition for mercies and gifts ascend to the throne, and by means of it infinite blessings are brought down from heaven. The pull of our prayer may not move the everlasting throne, but-like the pull on a line from the bow of a boat-it may draw us into closer fellowship with God and fuller harmony with His wise and holy will.
-Cuyler
(C.H Spurgeon) I had a dear friend whose company I esteemed, but suddenly he did not come to see me. He stayed away; and as I knew he had not ceased to love me, I wondered why. At last I found that the good brother had taken it into his head that he might outrun his welcome; he had read those words of Solomon, "Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbor's house; lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee" (Proverbs 25:17). I admired my friend's prudence, but I labored hard to make him see that Solomon knew nothing of me, and that I was more wearied when he stopped visiting than when he came. I hope he made me an exception to a very sensible rule. But never get that thought into your head concerning your God. Will you weary my God also? You may weary him by restraining prayer, but never by abounding in supplication. Abide with your God, and cry to him day and night, and let this be the music of your whole life, "Whereunto I may continually resort" (Psalms 71:3).
(C.H Spurgeon) I have heard an anecdote of two gentlemen traveling together, somewhere in Switzerland. Presently they came into the midst of the forests; and you know the gloomy tales the people tell about the inns there, how dangerous it is to lodge in them. One of them, a lost man, said to the other, who was a Christian, "I don't like stopping here at all; it is very dangerous indeed." "Well," said the other, "let us try." So they went into a house; but it looked so suspicious that neither of them liked it; and they thought they would prefer being at home in England. Presently the landlord said, "Gentlemen, I always read and pray with my family before going to bed; will you allow me to do so tonight?" "Yes," they said, "with the greatest pleasure." When they went upstairs, the worldly person said, "I am not at all afraid now." "Why?" said the Christian. "Because our host has prayed." "Oh!" said the other, "then it seems, after all, you think something of religion; because a man prays, you can go to sleep in his house." And it was marvelous how both of them did sleep. Sweet dreams they had, for they felt that where the house had been roofed by prayer, and walled with devotion, there could not be found a man living that would commit an injury to them.
(C.H Spurgeon) All the mighty works of God have been attended with great prayer, as well as with great faith. Have you ever heard of the commencement of the Great American revival? A man, unknown and obscure, laid it up in his heart to pray that God would bless his country. After praying and wrestling and making the soul-stirring inquiry, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" he hired a room, and put up an announcement that there would be a prayer-meeting held there at such-and-such an hour of the day. He went at the proper hour, and there was not a single person there; he began to pray, and prayed for an half an hour alone. One came in at the end of the half-hour, and then two more, and I think he closed with six; the next week came around, and there might have been fifty dropped in at different times. At last the prayer-meeting grew to a hundred; then others began to start prayer-meetings; at last there was scarcely a street in New York that was without a prayer-meeting. Merchants found time to run in, in the middle of the day, to pray. The prayer-meetings became daily ones, lasting for about an hour; petitions and requests were sent up; these were simply asked and offered before God, and the answers came; and many were the happy hearts that stood up and testified that the prayer offered last week had been already fulfilled. Then it was when they were all earnest in prayer, suddenly the Spirit of God fell upon the people, and it was rumored that in a certain village a preacher had been preaching in earnest, and there had been hundreds converted in a week. The matter spread into and through the northern states. These revivals of religion became universal, and it has been sometimes said, that a quarter of a million people were converted to God through the short space of two or three months.
(C.H Spurgeon) I cannot tell you how much I owe to the solemn words of my good mother. It was the custom on Sunday evenings, while we were yet little children, for her to stay at home with us; and then we sat round the table and read verse after verse, and she explained the Scriptures to us. After that was done, then came the time of pleading; there was a little piece of Alleyn's Alarm, or of Baxter's Call to the Unconverted, and this was read with pointed observations made to each of us as we sat round the table; and the question was asked how long it would be before we would think about our state, how long before we would seek the Lord. Then came a mother's prayer, and some of the words of a mother's prayer we shall never forget, even when our hair is gray.
Help us, 0 God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name. — Psalm 79:9.
Mary Slessor of Calabar often laid the cement floors in her native huts herself. Once in Scotland a lady asked her if she had any lessons in making cement. “No,” she replied, “I just stir it like porridge, turn it out, smooth it with a stick, and all the time keep praying, ‘Lord, here’s the cement; if to Thy glory, set it’ and it has never once gone wrong.”
O Thou who dost the vision send
And gives to each his task,
And with the task sufficient strength –
O teach us how — we ask. (altered)
Shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? — Matthew 7:11.
No good thing will he withhold from them that walk up-rightly. — Psalm 84:11.
The prayer of faith is the simple request of a trustful child to a father who possesses the means as well as the desire to grant it — of an intelligent child, who confides in the wisdom of a parent in the bestowal of the gift — of a loving child, who knows that nothing will be refused him which is really for his good, believing in the love of Him to whom his wants and griefs and joys are a matter of sympathy and tender consideration. — A. S.
How sweet, how blessed is the thought
That Thou dost hear Thy people’s cries,
And whether Thou dost give, or not,
‘Tis love that grants and love denies!
Do thou for me. — Psalm 109:21.
The psalmist does not say what he wanted God to do for him. He leaves it open. So this most restful prayer is left open for all perplexed hearts to appropriate according to their several necessities. And so we leave it open for God to fill up in His own way. Only a trusting heart can pray this prayer at all; the very utterance of it is an act of faith. We could not ask anyone whom we did not know intimately and trust implicitly to do for us without even suggesting what. — F. R. Havergal.
We leave it to Himself
To choose and to command;
With wonder filled, we soon shall see
How wise, how strong His hand,
Men ought always to pray, and not to faint. — Luke 18:1.
When the footsteps are tired and weary
And the heart-strings seem tugging alone
And the days seem so darksome and dreary
Just use the invisible phone
It is never shut off or disordered
It is never too early or late
To fly at command when ‘tis ordered
And soar o’er the heavenly gate
It reaches the heart of our Father
Who guards us with tenderest care
And loves when His dear children gather
To comfort each other by prayer
It lightens the burden of many
by gaining them strength from above
And softens the sorrows of any
Who are missing the dear ones they love.
Should sickness or sorrow o’ertake us,
as friend after friend passes on,
We know He will never forsake us,
until the last battle is won.
A sigh in the ear of receiver
from a spirit in sorrowing need
Will bring to the trusting believer
an answer in lightning speed,
And when interceding for others,
whose lives intermingle our own,
Our far-away sisters and brothers,
we use the invisible phone. — Mrs. Gregsten.
Men ought always to pray, and not to faint. — Luke 18:1.
Do not, therefore, leave His feet because your heart is cold, because your thoughts are wandering, because you are disinclined to speak to Him who loves to hear your voice. The promise is, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:31) . There is no promise for waiting for a more convenient season, for joyous emotions, or for certain devotional operations. If Satan obstructs your path, fear not! Make mention of the name of that great Conqueror who says to you, “All things are yours, and ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” — A. S.
But, Lord, the flesh is weak;
Thy gracious aid I seek,
For Thou the word must speak,
that makes me strong.
Then let me hear Thy voice,
Thou art my only choice;
Oh bid my heart rejoice,
Be Thou my song
Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with … cares of this life. — Luke 21:34.
For every trial God sends, He gives sufficient grace for its endurance, but He promises no grace with which to bear our anticipations of trial.
So for the future or its needs, 1 need not pray;
But that Thou wilt in love supply my needs this day.
Make me to do Thy will — quick to obey
The prompting of Thy Spirit in this very day.
Make me a voice — a messenger; teach me to say
Just the right word, at the right time, all through this day.
And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with … cares of this life. — Luke 21:34.
Bishop Hall said, “He that taketh his own cares upon himself loads himself in vain with an uneasy burden. I will cast all my cares upon God; He bath bidden me; they cannot burden Him.”
Why should I care, O blessed Lord?
Since all my cares are Thine;
Why not in triumph live, since Thou
Hast made Thy triumphs mine.
0 Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me. — Isaiah 38:14.
If you have any trial that seems intolerable, pray. One disabled from duty by sickness may pray for health, that he may do his work. Or one hemmed in by internal impediments may pray for utterance; but the answer to the prayer may be, as it was with Paul, not the removal of the thorn, but instead, a growing insight into its meaning and value. — J. F. Clarke.
Being perplexed I say,
Lord, make it right!
Night is as day to Thee,
Darkness is light.
I am afraid to touch
Things that involve so much;
My trembling hand may shake,
My skilless hands may break:
Thine can make no mistake. — Anna Warner
And a little child shall lead them. — Isaiah 11:6.
Billie’s parents, though respectable, were not Christians. His mother taught him the Lord’s prayer. She also taught him an appropriate little verse to say when he retired for the night. Then the boy would repeat after his mother, “God bless daddy, God bless mother, God bless Billie and make me a good boy.” One evening as he was kissing his mother good-night, he looked up into her face, and said, “Do you pray, mamma?” “No darling.” “Does daddy pray?” “I never heard him pray.” “Why do you make me pray?” “That you may be good.” “Well, mother, maybe God will hear my prayer. But you and daddy might help a little.” These earnest words of her little boy touched the mother’s heart, and it was not long before that house was a house of prayer unto God.
Happy the home where Jesus’ name
is sweet to every ear;
Where children early lisp His fame,
and parents hold Him dear. — Henry Ware (the younger)
The Lord … maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters … But thou hast not called upon me. — Isaiah 43:16, 22.
Prayer being what it is, how can those who really believe ever leave off praying, how can they ever do anything else but pray? This possibility is the real wonder. This is a greater
mystery than prayer itself.
Come, my soul, thy suit prepare;
Jesus loves to answer prayer;
He, Himself, has bid thee pray,
Therefore will not say thee nay.
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. — Jeremiah 33:3.
The more literal rendering of the word “mighty” is “fenced in things,” the things that are humanly impossible to reach. Those who expect to receive such blessings must continue instant in prayer, for promises are given, not to supercede prayer, but to encourage prayer. Those who pray and take His promises for their pillow find that their Father above will do for them things which humanly they could not understand or give credit to … But He can not bestow His choicest gifts upon hasty comers and goers. — Keith L. Brooks.
Long as the fiery trials last,
Long as the cross we bear,
O let our souls on Thee be cast
In never-ceasing prayer. — Charles Wesley.
What is the most powerful room in the United States Capitol? Ask some members of Congress and you would probably hear this: Room 219. It's the room closest to the House Chamber, and its walls have been privy to some of the most pivotal discussions of our history.
Recently, however, Room 219 just got a whole lot more powerful. How so? You see, in Room 219 some of the highest elected officials of our land are bending their knees in weekly prayer gatherings — openly declaring, not THEIR power, but their dependence on the power of God.
It's not a new idea. Our first president in his inaugural address said, “ ... it would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations and whose providential aid can supply every human defect.”
President Washington and our founders agreed on the necessity of prayer. And while today there are prayer breakfasts and even a National Day of Prayer, seldom do legislators gather to spend significant time actually praying. That's what led Congressman Randy Forbes, representative of the Fourth District of Virginia, to help initiate these gatherings in Room 219.
Congressman Forbes has also established the first Congressional Prayer Caucus to protect and promote prayer. Such an effort is so necessary today, not because our forefathers did not find prayer important, but because it was never before under attack as it is today.
Congressmen Forbes takes seriously that before calling others to prayer that he and other congressional leaders must begin by setting the example.
Forbes says that when others began hearing about what he and the other members were doing in Room 219 — praying — the phones began ringing. One man called to say that the men in his church are stopping at 2:19 in the afternoon to pray for our nation. Another church said they had begun gathering in their own Room 219 to pray for the nation. And so Forbes realized the need to call the nation to prayer “not for a day, but continually, without ceasing.”
So twenty-two members of Congress (men and women from both sides of the aisle) joined together to sign A CALL TO PRAYER FOR AMERICA, a document resembling the Declaration of Independence. And like Nehemiah who helped rebuild his nation by rebuilding a wall, congressional leaders are hoping Americans will help raise up a wall of continuous prayer to surround America. People across the country are signing up to be a part of this “Prayer Wall,” taking time blocks of five minutes to stop and pray.
If we want to protect faith in the public square, if we hope to create a culture that will uphold what is good and curb what is not, we must begin by bending the knee, acknowledging that true freedom is found in utter dependence upon our Creator.
Congressman Forbes and the Congressional Prayer Caucus have realized precisely that, and you can find them in Room 219.
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Copyright (c) 2006 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.
One of my very favorite prayers in all of Scripture is the one found in Daniel chapter nine. I love this prayer because Daniel ties all of his petitions to the glory of God, wrapping his own needs in God’s larger purposes and confidently hoisting them heavenward.
In the sequence of the book, this prayer falls several chapters after the famous episode of Daniel in the lion’s den. But the book of Daniel does not follow a strict chronology; most of the action falls in the first half of the book, while many of the visions recorded in the latter half of the book occurred around the time of the key events reported in the first half. Though thematic reasons lead the author to recount this prayer after telling the reader about the plot to throw Daniel in the lion’s den, he also tells us that it occurred in the first year of Darius, which means it fell chronologically right around the time the plot against Daniel was instigated.
What motivated Daniel to pray? He tells us himself: “I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes” (Daniel 9:2-3). He refers to the prophecy found in Jeremiah 29:10, which straightforwardly declares that after seventy years, Babylon will be judged and God will let his people return to Jerusalem. Daniel realized that the time of restoration was drawing near, and so he committed himself to pray for it.
This at first seems backward in our minds. It doesn’t make sense to spend our time praying for things that are already decreed to happen, does it? But the example of Daniel should cause us to reconsider the way we think about prayer. Daniel is confident that God will fulfill his promise to restore Jerusalem. He also knows that God has decreed conditions that must be fulfilled before this restoration, namely, repentance and confession. Daniel views his prayers as an active step in bringing God’s will to pass. He doesn’t ask the question that so many of us have asked: “If God already knows what He is going to do, then why should we pray?” Instead, he views his own prayers as the means that God has ordained to bring his will about.
I have never felt much need to pray for what has already been promised to us. I haven’t spent much time praying that Jesus would return, since he has already promised that he will. But if I follow Daniel’s example, I will see my prayers as a link in the chain of events that will bring about Christ’s return, rousing me to pray with gusto, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus!” We have the choice to stand back and passively watch God’s will unfold, but I would rather be a participant through my prayers.
Daniel took the need for prayer so seriously that he did not stop his prayer and fasting even when he knew that his political enemies would use it to trap him (If you don’t remember the story, see Daniel 6). You see, Daniel was a man of consistency; he knew that the same God he was counting on to deliver the people of Judah could deliver him from the hands of his enemies, or even the mouths of lions. If Daniel considered praying for what God had promised so necessary that he was willing to go to a den of lions rather than stop, we too should be fervent in praying for the fulfillment of God’s promises.
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Copyright © 2006 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.
The Lincolnshire, England, Christian Police Association has set up “Prayer Watch” -- a “spiritual twist on the Neighbourhood Watch scheme.” Christian officers will ask the public to pray for a reduction in crime, sending out e-mail alerts to ask for specific prayers. The CPA is “a support group,” said Lincolnshire Police spokesman Dick Holmes, “a bit like the black or gay associations.”
Not all local residents like the idea. “Churches can pray for whatever they like,” said one man, “but if God does exist are you telling me he doesn’t know about little old ladies being attacked?”
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Lincolnshire Echo
In 1977, NASA sent an unusual sort of time capsule into outer space aboard the Voyager spacecraft. It was a gold-plated record containing a variety of sounds and images meant to represent life on planet Earth. Among other things, the sounds included thunder, laughter, and greetings recorded in fifty-five languages. A letter from then-president Jimmy Carter accompanied the record:
“We cast this message into the cosmos.... Of the 200 billion
stars in the Milky Way galaxy, some -- perhaps many -- may have
inhabited planets and spacefaring civilizations. If one such
civilization intercepts Voyager and can understand these recorded
contents, here is our message:
“This is a present from a small distant world.... We are trying
to survive our time so we may live into yours. We hope someday,
having solved the problems we face, to join a community of
galactic civilizations. This record represents our hope and our
determination and our goodwill in a vast and awesome
universe.”(1)
While this project intrigues me, I have to admit that I find the letter humorous. If aliens exist, and if they were to intercept the record (and the Voyager’s creators recognized how slight that possibility is), the chances are slim that they could read and understand English (or one of the other fifty-five languages on the record). Or, if they are such advanced semiologists as to be able to decode our language, they may already know a fair bit about civilization on Earth. But I’ve no doubt that President Carter and others thought of these things, and I suspect that the letter was more a symbolic gesture than an attempt to communicate with beings in other galaxies or other millennia.
I’m afraid that the prayers of most of the inhabitants of our planet bear all too close a resemblance to this “Letter to the Cosmos.” They are launched into the unknown with no real expectation that they will be heard or understood. They are prayed in the manner and language considered appropriate by the one praying, with no knowledge of whether it will be acceptable to the one prayed to. These prayers are largely symbolic gestures rather than communicative acts.
There is a human impulse to try to communicate with our creator. Though it may lie dormant in some, it quickly springs to life when one is faced with danger or disaster. We seek the one who is in control when we are keenly aware of our own helplessness. But without a knowledge of who that creator is, such efforts are at best bumbling, at worst futile.
There is, however, hope for our prayers. We do not have to launch them aimlessly into the cosmos. The reason for this hope is that our creator has first communicated with us. J. B. Phillips refers to our world as a “visited planet” because God himself walked among us in the person of Jesus Christ. When Jesus’s disciples asked him to teach them to pray, he did not scoff at the idea that their prayers could reach the ears of their creator. Instead, he gave them an example, beginning, “Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.”
The idea that God is reachable through pray would seem about as far-fetched as the idea of aliens intercepting a letter from Jimmy Carter, if it weren’t for the fact that God has already reached out to us. We do not have to make supplication to the cosmos; we can call out to a personal God who has invited our prayers. They are not symbolic gestures, or aimless attempts to signal an S.O.S. They are meant for the God who hears, the one who loves to answer.
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1. Jimmy Carter, “Jimmy Carter to the Cosmos,” LETTERS OF THE CENTURY, ed. Lisa Grunwald and Stephen J. Adler, (New York: Random House, 1999), 551.
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Copyright © 2006 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.
Isaiah 64 — The Prayer of the Remnant
Remnant
• historical — that group of Jews who returned to the promised land from exile
• spiritual:
° O.T. — the group of Jews within Israel remaining true to God
° N.T. — the group within the visible Church remaining true in doctrine and practice
° these suffer because the nominal people of God sin and depart from Him
• today — the group of true believers in the world, God’s people either in whol or in part
Outline of chapter
• vv 1-5. The greatness of God and His works
• vv 6-7. The sinfulness of man
• vv 8-9. A call upon God to acknowledge His people
• vv 10-12. Petition for restoration
Some verses worthy of investigation
• v 2. compare with 2 Peter 3:10-13
• v 11. compare with the current state of the believing church, particularly in North America and the western world
Three verses for today
• verse 4 — God’s great plans; what N.T. verses complement this verse? … how?
° 1 Cor 2:1-9 (cf v 9 with v 2, and with Isa 29:13-16)
° I John 3:1-2
• verse 6 — the effect of sin on man, on a man; what are 4 of its effects (cf Rev 3:14-18)
° taint, guilt
° prevent righteousness
° debilitate
° influences all conduct (so there is no stability, no direction)
• verse 8 — God the Potter — some other Scriptures to consider
° Isaiah 29:13-16 — God Sovereign in mercy and punishment
° Isaiah 45:1-9 — God Sovereign over earthly ruler (Cyrus)
° Jeremiah 18:1-12 — God Sovereign in dealing with Israel
° Romans 10:17-24 — God Sovereign in dealing with mankind
The hireling … because he is an hireling … careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. — John 10:13, 14.
The shepherd wiped the perspiration from his face. “Working with sheep takes a lot of patience,” he said. “Sometimes we have a hard job to get some of the little lambs started taking milk from the mother. They can’t find the milk, so we have to help them. But a hired man usually doesn’t like to bend down to help them. He tries to kick them around to the mother’s side, but I always get down on my hands and knees with the lamb and then it is easy to help him and he soon learns. But you just have to get down on your knees if you are going to help the lambs.” — L. E. Linsted.
I sometimes feel the thread of life is slender,
And soon with me the labour will be wrought,
Then grows my heart to other hearts more tender
In prayer and love and kindly thought.
If you were preparing to build a house, you wouldn’t begin by putting the rafters in place. Yet many churches that are plateaued or declining look first for a new method, marketing strategy, or worship style to return their church to healthy growth. While it may be necessary to address issues of method and style, the most critical issue is supernatural empowering by the Spirit. This empowering comes in response to the concerted prayer of God’s people. When we demonstrate our dependence on God, He pours out His Spirit upon His Church.
Several years ago many people were fascinated by the success of the cell group movement in Korea. I was privileged to hear a prominent Korean pastor speak on his cell groups. Toward the end of the presentation he made an interesting observation. He noted that many people who came to hear him were fascinated to hear about his cell groups but uninterested when he spoke about prayer mountain, the place where hundreds of believers gathered to pray early in the morning. He told us that God had grown the church and the cells were nothing more than their attempt to accommodate the supernatural growth God had given. LifeWay Christian Resources President Thom Rainer, in his doctoral dissertation on church growth, called prayer the power behind the principles.
Prayer and the empowering of the Spirit are interrelated, and thus I will treat it as a single characteristic of the Kingdom-centered church. Since supernatural empowering is the essential foundation, we will first examine prayer and then look at the role of the Spirit in expanding the Kingdom through the church.
• The pattern of Acts.
The early Christians had been instructed by Jesus to wait until they were empowered from on high (Luke 24:49). This waiting period was not simply idle time. During this time, all these were continually united in prayer (Acts 1:14). As we study the book of Acts, we will notice that prayer was not a casual or occasional event for the early disciples. The word translated “continually” not only denotes the duration of their prayer, but it also indicates their devotion to prayer. Their praying was both persistent and passionate.
It is worthy of note that in the first extensive summary of New Testament community life, Luke indicates once again that they were devoted to prayer (Acts 2:41-47). In other words, prayer was not a stop-gap effort to be abandoned once the Spirit had been given, but was a bedrock necessity for effective community life.
In Acts 4 we are told that Peter and John answered with such boldness that the Jewish leaders were amazed and knew they had been with Jesus (4:13). As we read the account in its entirety, we find the key to their boldness. As soon as Peter and John were released, they headed for the assembly of believers to tell them what had happened (4:23). A spontaneous prayer and praise meeting broke out. They praised God for His faithfulness and asked that they may speak His message with complete boldness (4:29). The result? When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak God’s message with boldness (4:31).
In Acts, we are told that the rapid growth in the number of disciples had created challenges for the church in their attempt to meet the needs of the widows who had no visible means of support. The church expanded its ministry by electing seven servants (deacons), thus enabling the apostles to devote themselves to prayer and to the preaching ministry (6:4). We generally understand this to mean that the apostles would have more time to pray and prepare for preaching. It is, however, likely that it actually means that the apostles needed sufficient time to prepare for two major tasks of leadership -- preaching and leading the church body to pray.
This pattern continues unabated throughout the book of Acts as we find an impromptu prayer meeting in a jail (16:25) and another on a beach (21:5). The picture that emerges from the book of Acts is that prayer was the indispensable foundation for the early church. It was both planned and spontaneous. It punctuated times of worship and was the normative element of their daily life. Decisions about leadership were birthed and bathed in prayer. Strategic directions for the entire church family were discovered through prayer. It would be impossible for us to overestimate the significance of prayer for the early church. Should it be any less central today?
• Jesus the prayer mentor.
We should not be surprised that prayer became central to the life of the church when we consider the prayer mentor that the early apostles had lived with for three years. The scene pictured in Matthew 14 must have been a familiar one to the early disciples: After dismissing the crowds, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray (23). The constant demands of ministry were and are physically, emotionally and spiritually draining. The Lord recognized the demand of ministry and regularly found time alone to refuel through prayer.
The Gospel of Mark is marked by continuous activity and breakneck pace. The word “immediately” is characteristic of the Gospel. In the first 28 verses of chapter one, Mark tells us of the preaching of John the Baptist, the baptism and temptation of Jesus, and His ministry in Galilee. Verse 29 continues the accelerated pace — - as soon as they left the synagogue, they went into Simon and Andrew’s house. Here Jesus healed Simon’s mother-in-law which created a stir in the entire town, causing a large crowd to assemble (1:33).
In light of the great opportunity the healing had created, the next action of Jesus is all the more significant. Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He got up, went out, and made His way to a deserted place. And He was praying there (1:35). When the disciples find Him, we hear a note of reproach in the statement: Everyone’s looking for You! Jesus’ response must have startled them. He told them it was time to go to other villages and preach the Gospel. Jesus spent time in prayer not only to experience the full empowering of the Father, but also to receive the clear direction of the Father.
Having seen this priority for prayer in the life of Jesus, we are not surprised that the singular request of the disciples was that Jesus teach them how to pray (Luke 11:1). In response Jesus taught them to pray a prayer that is Kingdom-centered, focusing on the name of God and the Kingdom of God (2-4).
If you could be empowered to reproduce one activity of Jesus’ earthly ministry to aid your church in its Kingdom impact, what would it be? Would you be tempted to ask for the power to heal or perform miracles? Such activities would certainly draw a crowd. Maybe you would ask for the ability to teach with great authority. Would you join with the first century disciples and ask the Master to teach you to pray? In truth, it is the key to all else in His ministry and in ours.
• The continuing pattern of the early church.
Paul was responsible for planting and nurturing most of the churches we read about in the New Testament. Have you ever wondered what this first-century church planter considered most important for the health of a church? Listen to the beginning of the letter to the church at Ephesus: “I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers” (Ephesians 1:16). A similar greeting is repeated in 1 Corinthians 1:4, Colossians 1:9, and 1 Thessalonians 1:2. Paul believed the most important action he could take for his churches was prayer.
In his Ephesian and Colossian letters, Paul lets us put our ear to his prayer closet and overhear his impassioned prayer for his churches. In Ephesians 1:17-24 he prays that the believers would know the hope of God’s calling, the riches of His inheritance to the saints, and the surpassing greatness of His power. In Ephesians 3:14-20 he prays that the believers would be strengthened with power, experience the indwelling of Christ, know the love of Christ with all the saints, and be filled up to the fullness of God.
Paul taught his churches to pray for him and often related to them the results their praying had wrought in his ministry (see 2 Corinthians 1:8-11). Paul had two primary prayer requests: In Ephesians 6:19-20 he asks fellow believers to pray that he might speak the Gospel with boldness. In 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2 he requests that they pray that the Word of the Lord would spread rapidly. It is noteworthy that when Paul encouraged entreaties, prayers, petitions and thanksgiving for kings and those in authority (1 Timothy 2:1-3), his primary concern was for peaceful conditions which would enable the spreading of the Gospel. In other words, the prayers were to be focused on the advance of the Kingdom through the spreading of the Gospel. Kingdom-centered churches pray Kingdom-focused prayers.
• Practical considerations.
Do you think the prayer ministry of your church could be improved? How? Is your church known as a “House of Prayer?” Being a “House of Prayer” doesn’t mean that you have a prayer room or a specified time of prayer; it means that every meeting and every decision is bathed in prayer. It means that prayer is the non-negotiable that permeates all that is done.
If you are serious about being a Kingdom-centered church, you must organize the church to pray. “Everyone’s job” becomes “no one’s responsibility.” Every church must train people to pray and organize them for prayer. There are numerous options and tools to help you get started. The lacking component is not the tool; it is the commitment. Prayer is hard spiritual work because it and evangelism are the two offensive weapons of the church as we advance the Kingdom of God on earth.
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