Why is prayer so vital to the church and
to our lives? I believe we can see three reasons, with today's devotional being the first, based on Acts10:
1. Prayer Empowers Us.
Peter and
Cornelius were both praying when God saw fit to empower both of them. He empowered
Peter to see that indeed God shows no partiality. He was empowered to go beyond
his prejudiced heart. Peter was changed by his vision and was prepared to see
where God was leading him, but his vision only came because he was in prayer.
We should pray, NOT primarily so to change
the world or change the heart of God. Rather, we should pray because our hearts
are desperately wicked and it’s me, it is me, it is me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.
C.S. Lewis, author of the Chronicles of
Narnia, said, “I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless.
I pray because the need flows out of me all the time-waking and sleeping. It
doesn’t change God- it changes me."
One of the biggest scandals I believe in
the church today is not pornography, not adultery, not envy, but idolatry. Most
Christians, myself included, do not follow after heavenly Father, but rather
our own hedonistic feelings. Amen?
Let me give you a test:
If I were to tell you that tonight that
Joel Olsteen or Dave Ramsey or Rick Warren or David Jeremiah were going to be at
your church tonight...
Would
you go?
In addition to one of those preachers
being there, suppose that your pastor said he has been blessed by an anonymous
donor who wanted to help the congregation get out of debt and your pastor was
going to give out $1,000 to the first 250 people who came...
Now, would you go?
How many of you would pray about coming to
church tonight? “Dear Lord, you know I am in debt. I want to ask you, is it Your
will for me to come back tonight?” Most of you would not even think about
praying about it and a large majority probably would go up to church as soon as
you heard to make sure you were first in line.
Would you feel “led to come”?
Yet, most would never come to church if
all they were doing is praying.
My point is this: Most Christians are not
led by the Spirit of God, but they are led by Christian preachers or greed or
even by their personal feelings and all of those things which take the place of
God are, simply and surely, idolatry.
The number one reason we should pray is
because our heart is desperately wicked and we need to pray as David did in Ps.
51: 10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within
me.”
If a thousand dollars would bring you to
church, but not the preached word, or a call to prayer, then we must really
think what it is that motivates us to go.
Peter had a hunger, a strong hunger, while
he was praying. He could have stopped praying to meet his need, but he didn’t. The
lusts of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life can
get us to turn away from prayer but it can also get us when we are afflicted to
turn to God in prayer.
Look at James 5:13 “Is any one of you in
trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.” Verse
14 says our afflictions should prompt us to call others, the elders of the
church, to pray.
