A Call to Prayer

Frankly, it amazes me how little effort most of us are willing to exhibit when it comes to the matter of corporate prayer. We are meeting this Wednesday in the sanctuary at 6:30p to engage with God in corporate prayer. These are difficult days for many of us. Please come pray for those for whom these days are especially difficult. Are these days filled with difficulty for you and your family? Be encouraged to prayerfully lean toward God all the time, but especially during difficult times. Consider these words from Stan Grenz and I hope to see you this Wednesday evening.    

The church of Jesus Christ faces many challenges today. Yet the greatest challenge is not what might initially come to mind. The greatest challenge is not that of urging Christians to speak out on the great social issues of the day or to engage in political action, even though such involvements are crucial. Nor is our greatest challenge that of encouraging each other to be more fervent in evangelizing the world, even though evangelization ought to be of concern to every Christian. Rather, the greatest challenge facing the church of Jesus Christ today, and therefore every local congregation, is motivating the people of God to engage in sincere, honest, fervent prayer (Stanley Grenz, Prayer: The Cry for the Kingdom, 1).

 

An Eastern Orthodox Summary of the Gospel

In the July edition of Christianity Today, David Neff interviewed Bishop Kallistos Ware, the metropolitan archbishop of the Eastern Orthodox Church in the U.K. Ware had just visited North Park University and Wheaton College, where he lectured on the relationship between Evangelicalism and Orthodoxy. Neff asked the Archbishop to succinctly summarize the Christian message. This was his moving summary. I’d love to hear your thoughts.   

I believe in a God who loves humankind so intensely, so totally, that he chose himself to become human. Therefore, I believe in Jesus Christ as fully and truly God, but also totally and unreservedly one of us, fully human. The love of God is so great that Christ died for us on the cross. But love is stronger than death, and so the death of Jesus was followed by his resurrection. I am a Christian because I believe in the great love of God that led him to become incarnate, to die, and to rise again. That's my faith. All of this is made immediate to us through the continuing action of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer and the Full Armor of God

At the conclusion of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul teaches us concerning the primary tactic God’s people should use in doing battle against the enemy and the forces of evil he seeks to energize (6.10-20). Paul coaches us with these imperatives,

Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power …

Put on the full armor of God …

Stand firm …

Take up the shield of faith …

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit …

Having obeyed Paul’s instructions, we are now prepared to receive his final and climactic exhortation.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should (6.18-20, NIV).

It seems as if the paragraph concerning the Full Armor of God (6.10-17), is designed by Paul to prepare us to go to battle in prayer as we obey the encouraging words that follow (6.18-20). Prayer is the context in which the Armor of God is designed to be effective. Prayer is the way we take our stand against the devil’s schemes. Prayer is the way we struggle against the authorities, the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Please consider enlisting in the battle against evil that will occur through the prayers of God’s people. Gathering to Pray happens at SBC on Wednesday evening at 6:30PM! We will sing, pray, receive communion, and pray some more.  Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests (Ephesians 6.18a, NIV).

For further encouragement to spend time in prayer with our gracious Abba in heaven, view this short video.

Francis Chan on Prayer and the Fatherhood of God

Nothing Other Than Prayer

“We do not drift into spiritual life; we do not drift into disciplined prayer. We will not grow in prayer unless we plan to pray. That means we must self-consciously set aside to do nothing but pray” (D.A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation, 19). These words from Don Carson, encouraging us to set aside specific time for nothing but prayer have the weight of Scripture behind them. The Psalmist practiced the discipline of scheduled prayer.

Seven times a day I praise You, because of Your righteous ordinances (Psalm 119.164, NASB)

Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice (Psalm 55.17, NIV).

As leaders in the first-century church, the Apostles continued the Old Testament pattern of regular times of prayer with God’s people. 

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer – at three in the afternoon (Acts 3.1, NIV).

The Apostle Paul devoted himself to what the first century church called, “the prayers.”

… always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you (Romans 1.10, NASB).

… [I} do not cease giving thanks for you in my prayers (Ephesians 1.16, NASB)

We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers (1 Thessalonians 1.2, NASB).

In each of these instances Paul is referring to a disciplined and specific time that he, along with others, prayed.

Jesus himself understood the necessity of regular times of prayer.

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed (Luke 5.16, NIV).

This list of Scriptural proofs could go on and on about how God’s people, during times of desperate need pursued God in prayer as individuals and as a group (cf. Daniel 6). When is your regular disciplined time of doing nothing else aside from prayer? As a church family we have set aside Wednesdays at 6:30pm for corporate prayer. Nothing more. Nothing less. Wednesday evening is for prayer. Nothing can replace the power of God that is only experienced when we gather together to pray. What could be more important? Please join us in the sanctuary, this Wednesday at 6:30pm for our weekly Gathering to Pray. We will sing. We will pray. We will receive communion. We will pray some more. Please come enjoy the presence and grace of God with us. If you need even more encouragement, please watch this testimony from Pastor Jim Cymbala about the Tuesday Night Prayer Meetings at The Brooklyn Tabernacle. His testimonies about this crucial evening in the life of their Church, have encouraged me to move our Wednesday evenings in this direction.

Jim Cymbala on Prayer 

Listening to the Prayers of Our Ancestors

We learn to pray by listening to others pray. When Jesus' disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, he simply prayed in their presence. We learn to pray by praying in each other's presence - by hearing how each of us prays and by praying ourselves with our brothers and sisters. It is also important to allow our brothers and sisters from Christian history to teach us to pray. Speaking of the vital importance of tradition, G.K. Chesterton wrote: 

Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about.

Similarly, we must not only allow our living brothers and sisters in Christ to teach us to pray, but those who "have gone one before us" have much wisdom to offer and a vital ministry to perform. This is the role of prayer books and collections of written prayers in shaping our understanding of the prayer tradition. Within our tradition The Valley of Vision offers a stimulating collection of prayers and devotions from the Puritans. This collection is intended by Arthur Bennett to stimulate our own prayers. So may this following prayer of confession and petition teach us and stimulate us to pray. 

HOLY LORD,

I have sinned times without number,

    and been guilty of pride and unbelief,

of failure to find thy mind in thy Word,

of neglect to seek thee in my daily life. 

My transgressions and short-comings

present me with a list of accusations,

But I bless thee that they will not stand against me,

for all have been laid on Christ;

Go on to subdue my corruptions,

and grant me grace to live above them.

Let not the passions of the flesh nor lustings of the mind

bring my spirit into subjection,

but do thou rule over me in liberty and power.

I thank thee that many of my prayers have been refused--

I have asked amiss and do not have,

I have prayed from lusts and been rejected,

I have longed for Egypt and been given a wilderness.

Go on with thy patient work,

answering 'no' to my wrongful prayers, and fitting me to accept it.

Purge me from every false desire, every base aspiration,

everything contrary to thy rule.

I thank thee for thy wisdom and thy love,

for all the acts of discipline to which I am subject,

for sometimes putting me into the furnace

to refine my gold and remove my dross.

No trial is so hard to bear as a sense of sin.

If thou shouldst give me choice to live in pleasure and keep my sins,

or to have them burnt away with trial,

give me sanctified affliction.

Deliver me from every evil habit, every accretion of former sins.

everything that dims the brightness of thy grace in me,

everything that prevents me taking delight in thee.

Then I shall bless thee, God of Jeshurun, for helping me to be upright.

(Valley of Vision, 77)

This prayer should awaken a spirit of repentance within us, as should these words from Ezekiel. 

Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declared the sovereign LORD. Repent and live (Ezekiel 18. 30-32, NIV). 

Prayer: Evidence We Are Being Revived

Revive us, and we will call on your name (Psalm 80.18a). 

Last week these words from the Psalmist stuck out to me like a sore thumb. For the last five weeks, we as a Church family have felt a renewed call from the Lord to pray. To cry out to him for his Kingdom to come - for his will in heaven to be known on earth - for zeal for his agenda and not ours - for revival. Frankly, this final petition has weighed heavy on my heart as a pastor. My thinking was something like - If I just pray hard enough, revival will come to our church. If I can just convince SBC to pray with enough fervency, then revival will finally happen. It was as if prayer for revival was the X-Games in the sport of prayer - reserved for only extreme sort of folks who are world-renown for the vast number of "Father God's" they can fit into an offertory prayer. 

Prayer and revival, however, are spoken of differently in Psalm 80. Revival, being brought back to life, that is, precedes calling on the name to Yahweh for deliverance. Did you catch that? Calling on God for salvation-power is evidence that we have been and are being revived. This was refreshment for my thirsty soul. As a Church family we have been pursuing prayer with a measure of fervency that I have not known in some time. After seasons of prayer like we are presently enjoying, we often judge the "effectiveness" of the season by what we see God accomplish after we have prayed. I believe "the effectual, fervent prayer of the righteous one avails much," but I want us to remember that the season of prayer itself is evidence of the life-giving power of God among us. We have been praying. We are feeling a renewed commitment to boldly come before the throne of grace. This, in and of itself, is clear evidence that God is at work in our midst. He is reviving us because we are calling on his name. Amen.

Please make plans to attend our Combined Worship-Driven Prayer Meeting with Cornerstone Church. We will gather at SBC at 6:30pm.


For further encouragement on prayer, please enjoy another sermon clip by Pastor John Piper
Prayer: A War-Time Walkie Talkie              

Combined Worship-Driven Prayer Meeting

In the introduction of 2 Corinthians, Paul reminds us that God is the God who comforts. He is “the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort.” He “comforts us in all our troubles.” “If we are distressed,” Paul says, “it is for your comfort and salvation.” In fact, the word “comfort” appears nine times in 2 Corinthians 1.3-7. Beginning in verse 8, Paul recounts for us a time in his life when God’s comfort was desperately needed.

Paul and his “entourage” had undergone various trials, massive trouble and unbearable pressure as they worked to spread the gospel of Christ over the province of Asia. Things became so bad they believed God had providentially determined their deaths. They learned to rely on God, however, and he delivered them. Listen to the words of Holy Scripture.

Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor us in answer to the prayers of many (2 Cor 1.9-11).

Did you notice Paul’s carefully nuanced language? God was the one who had delivered and the one he was trusting to deliver in the future. But the Apostle still acknowledged the role prayer played in their deliverance. They had set their hope on God who will continue to deliver them, as the Corinthians help them by their prayers. “Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many” (2 Cor 1.10-11a). These words speak unashamedly about the significant role of prayer as God’s will is accomplished on earth. It was through the prayers of the Corinthians that God delivered Paul and his associates from the perils of death. Prayer is significant. Prayer moves the hand of God. Can you imagine a more important task? Please join us for a combined worship-driven prayer meeting of Somonauk Baptist Church and Cornerstone Church. We will gather at SBC at 6:30pm

For further encouragement to pray please watch the attached sermon clip from Pastor John Piper.           

Further Encouragement to Pray