In much of the church's life in the twentieth century, however, both in Evangelical and non-Evangelical circles, the place of prayer has become limited and almost vestigial. The proportion of horizontal communication that goes on in the church (in planning, arguing, and expounding) is overwhelmingly greater than that which is vertical (in worship, thanksgiving, confession, and intercession). Critically important committee meetings are begun and ended with formulary prayers, which are ritual obligations and not genuine expression of dependence- when problems and arguments ensue, they are seldom resolved by further prayer but are wrangled out on the battlefield of human discourse. The old midweek prayer meetings for revival have vanished from the programs of most churches or have been transformed into Bible studies ending with minimal prayer.
This was the picture in much of the American church until recently, and it is still almost universally the case in some instruments and organs of the churches which have to do with teaching and administration. Why has this come about? Perhaps it stems partly from the deficient teaching and emphasis on God himself throughout the church, and partly from the man-centeredness of much religious activity. Deficiency in prayer both reflects and reinforces inattention toward God.
Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life, 153.
Last evening I was teaching about the Disciples prayer that Jesus gave us in Matthew 6: 10-13. (You can find the message/talk at www.seattlecrc.org) I began with a series of questions based upon this passage from Lovelace. Let me share a couple of these questions.
What is your prayer life like? Do you come before the Living God and pray like your life depends upon it? Are your prayers mostly brief and about you and your needs? Have you learned how to listen to God's leading?
What about your church? Do you as a body of Christ come before the Living God and pray like your life depends upon it? In our busy culture the Wednesday evening prayer meeting has often gone by the wayside. Does your church have other groups that meet together for the primary purpose of prayer? Does your church encourage such groups?
I am speaking from personal experience when I share that I have found growing in prayer to be difficult. I will never forget the way my hypocrisy was most clearly exposed to me. I was serving in a very good Presbyterian church in Asheville as an assistant pastor. The church had recently lost its long-time senior pastor, and conflict was starting to brew. Quite frankly the leadership of the church was opinionated, but not very solid or godly. They were the leadership mentioned in Lovelace's thoughts above. The people were growing restless.
Into the midst of this, I walked: a recent seminary graduate who the church leadership did not trust because the senior pastor hired me before he left. The church's leadership team felt like I was foisted upon them and they did not like it. I was asked to preach. I chose the topic of prayer. I encouraged the church to see that they were in a spiritual war, and that prayer was so desperately needed. I pointed out that another assistant pastor has a mid-week pray meeting that was very sparsely attended. I asked, "Does this lack of attendance not show our lack of attention toward God?"
The sermon was very well received. I was glad! Then on Wednesday, over 100 people showed up for the prayer service. I cannot tell you the exact amount of people there, because I did not attend! You see, I talked about prayer. I knew prayer was important. Yet, I did not join in prayer when it was most needed!
What a hypocrite! Looking back, I can see that I did not join in mid-week corporate prayer because I really did not have a solid grounding in personal prayer. I had not been led to a place where I personally prayed "like my life depended upon it."
In the midst of my immaturity, God worked. He led the church in one direction, and I headed off to further graduate study. He also used this situation to constantly remind me of my obvious immaturity. Through this situation and others, He worked over the next five years to change my heart concerning my need for prayer. He used it to help me grow up.
Individually and corporately, most folks in America do not pray like their very lives depend upon it. It is something they talk about, but do sparingly. Prayer does not drive their life or ministry. If this is you or it is your church, I ask that you repent and believe! You need Jesus and the Spirit to work to transform lives and communities. Learn to depend upon Him.
I am so thankful this is not the case for all people. It is also not the case for all churches. Some individuals and churches have learned their need for Jesus and they depend upon Him for life. Individually and corporately they have learned how to walk and live in dependent prayer. These individuals and churches are the very life-blood of God's Kingdom on earth. I pray that the Lord will multiply these individuals and churches!
Friends, let us walk this week in dependent prayer. May the Lord's grace lead us into deeper repentance and faith so that we might find our rest and dependence in Him!
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