A Season of Prayer

As we enter into another season of prayer at Grace Bible Church I want to encourage you about the importance of prayer.

Charles H. Spurgeon said the following about prayer:

“If a church is to be what it ought to be for the purposes of God, we must train it in the holy art of prayer. Churches without prayer-meetings are grievously common. Even if there were only one such, it would be one to weep over. In many churches the prayer-meeting is only the skeleton of a gathering: the form is kept up, but the people do not come. There is no interest, no power, in connection with the meeting.

Oh, my brothers, let it not be so with you! Do train the people to continually meet together for prayer. Rouse them to incessant supplication. There is a holy art in it. Study to show yourselves approved by the prayerfulness of your people. If you pray yourself, you will want them to pray with you; and when they begin to pray with you, and for you, and for the work of the Lord, they will want more prayer themselves, and the appetite will grow. Believe me, if a church does not pray, it is dead. Instead of putting united prayer last, put it first. Everything will hinge upon the power of prayer in the church.”

Realizing that ‘everything will hinge upon the power of prayer’, each year, the elders have set aside 12 weeks in the fall where we exhort and encourage the church body to formally commit themselves to either one half hour of prayer per week or one full hour of prayer and fasting one meal per week.

Don’t miss that brothers and sisters. We are asking at minimum for each person to commit to 30 minutes per week. Thirty. Minutes. Per. Week.

Nehemiah prayed for a split second for the grace of God to be with him as he answered King Artaxerxes. In a split second he went from ‘dreadfully afraid’ to courageously and humbly speaking to the king (Nehemiah 2:2-5).

Esther asked the Jews to pray and fast for 3 days to move the heart of a king (Esther 4:15, 16).

We are asking the entire church body to commit to a short season of prayer. A season where we, as pastors, have great hope and great expectation that the Lord will raise up this body for a passion for prayer that becomes the engine - “the throbbing machinery” (CH Spurgeon) - of this church.

If you’re like me - I suspect many of you are - you find it difficult to discipline yourself for extended periods of prayer.

This my dear friends has been a struggle for the church since Christ’s disciples slept during the hours of his greatest need for prayer. [Matthew 26:36-46]

In 1535, after Martin Luther’s barber (and friend) asked him how to pray, Martin Luther responded with a brief treatise published in the spring of 1535 under the title, A Simple Way to Pray, for a Good Friend. Perhaps we can all learn from Luther’s own practices of prayer. The following are some of the suggestions Luther gave to his barber:

1. There is need for concentration

Let prayer be the first business of the morning and last in the evening. Do not be sidetracked. Luther writes, “So, a good and attentive barber keeps his thoughts, attention, and eyes on the razor and hair and does not forget how far he has gotten with his shaving or cutting. If he wants to engage into much conversation or let his mind wander or look somewhere else he is likely to cut his customer’s mouth, nose, or even his throat. Thus if anything is to be done well, it requires the full attention of all one’s senses and members...” [p. 32-33, Martin Luther, A Simple Way to Pray, Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster Knox Press, 2000]

2. There is a sequence of prayer

Luther writes “...kneel or stand with your hands folded and your eyes toward heaven and speak or think as briefly as you can...” [p. 20 ibid] Offer a brief prayer “O Heavenly Father, dear God, I am a poor unworthy sinner, I do not deserve to raise my eyes or hands toward thee or to pray...” [p. 21 ibid] Begin to pray one petition of the Lord’s Prayer or one of the Ten Commandments. Never doubt you are alone in your prayer. “Do not leave your prayer without having said or thought, ‘Very well, God has heard my prayer, this I know as a certainty and a truth.’ This is what Amen means.” [p. 29 ibid]

3. The heart must be ready for prayer

Keep prayers meaningful. Unclutter your mind by focusing on one thought, perhaps one petition of the Lord’s Prayer or one of the Ten Commandments.

4. Prayer is like a garland of four twisted strands

This garland is especially true when using Holy Scripture, Lord’s Prayer, or Ten Commandments. Each strand can be posed as a question:

• What is the (petition, commandment, etc.) teaching/meaning for me?
• What prayer of thanksgiving does this prompt?
• What confession or lament does it evoke?
• What is the prayer petition?

Luther said, “Nothing can be said here about the part of faith and Holy Scriptures [in prayer] because there would be no end to what could be said. With practice one can take the Ten Commandments on one day, a psalm or chapter of Holy Scripture the next day, and use them as flint and steel to kindle a flame in the heart.” [p. 5 ibid]

Our hope is that as we enter into this season of prayer that it will stimulate greater participation in other prayer meetings that happen throughout the week on this campus. Perhaps you can use this twelve week season of prayer to begin the habit of joining one of the two Sunday morning prayer meetings. We have one that meets at 8:15 in the Hospitality Room and one that meets at 11:15 in the church office.

There is also a Men’s Prayer meeting that meets every Friday at 6:30 a.m. in the Hospitality Room.

Let us pray that the Lord gives us all hearts that unite together as part of a “throbbing machinery” that drives the engine of the church. “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than we ask or think according to the power at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” [Ephesians 3:20]

Scott Denny is one of our Pastors here at Grace Bible Church