Prayer

[irishman]

It is so hard to be consistent in prayer, and yet, that is exactly what is needed in our lives and work for the Lord. We often pray in spurts; we go for awhile, and then simply peter out; if only we could pray on a regular basis, for specifics as well as as in general.

Some men have accomplished a great prayer life; these are the old-time preachers we hear about like Finney, Mueller, Hyde, etc, and they have moved mountains for the Lord! Oh, if only we would see the power of prayer (myself especially!) and get on our knees before God, what a revival we could see in America. Remember 2 Chronicles 7:14? Remember the promise of healing our land? Not to mention the many untold blessings that answers to prayer would bring!

We hear these types of messages all the time, and they seem to impress us for a short time, but in truth they "go in one ear, and out the other", and are soon swallowed up in life. Why is this? Is it not that we are lazy--that we are too busy perhaps with other things? Is it because "we are but flesh"? Satan seems to defeat most of us in the area of prayer; I do not mean long prayer, necessarily, some long prayers can be as shallow and empty as a quick off-the-wall prayer, and not even make it to the gates of Heaven. I mean quality prayer, not quantity; it is not how long we pray, but that we pray at all! Once we begin on a regular basis, we will be flooded with things to pray about, and the prayer will be as long as it needs to be.

There was one specific command that Christ told us to pray about and that is to send more laborers into the field, and yet, He Himself spent many hours even all nights, in prayer. If Jesus felt He should pray, shouldn't we also? We need to move the flesh aside: oh, I know, it isn't easy when we have had a bad day, or we just don't feel like it for some reason or another, but that is where character must take over. We need to build character; we need to be determined to pray, but that will not happen until we see the importance and the power of prayer. I feel it is the pre-eminent thing in the Christian life, and every thing we do evolves around prayer.

This said, I believe we are failing in the church today because we have, in many cases, put preaching over prayer! I do not wish to undermine preaching, it is of the utmost importance, but what happened to Wednesday night prayer meeting in the fundamental churches today? Many of them are now Wednesday night services, with a quick mention of prayer, maybe a few requests, then the preacher praying a general prayer, and the message for the evening complete with altar call, etc. It has become another Sunday night type service in many cases! And where have all the all-nighters gone? One hears little of all night prayer meetings any more.
We need to get back to talking to our God, and allowing Him to talk to us.

Most of us, myself included, and maybe especially me, are a sad commentary for prayer. I hope to do better, and I hope we all will determine to do better too.