A CALL TO PRAYER

“For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds;
and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” – Matthew 7:8

The Scriptures seem clear that God has determined to use the prayers of His people to evoke His power. Surely he does not need our prayers to display His power; nevertheless it is a means He uses. I speculate that one reason He does so is so that our yearnings to see His power would drive us to fellowship with Him in prayer. While we may be focused on having needs met when entering such prayer, God is constantly focused on a relationship with us. He wants our needs and those of His church to compel us to meet with Him in a state of dependency. He wants us to surrender control and acknowledge His. And this is precisely what prayer does.

On Sunday September 26 I urged our local church to enter into an extended “Season of Prayer” for the remainder of 2010. There are many factors that God put upon my heart that caused me to beckon our church body to prayer. Among them is the spiritual, moral and economic state of our nation. Our nation desperately needs a Great Awakening and I am seriously praying for it. This economy should be causing the lost and the redeemed to cry out to God. We should pray it will! A second motivating factor toward prayer at this time is the very critical health of several church members who could gain great encouragement knowing our church body was praying for them constantly—every hour of every day. There are other factors that I listed out in the Prayer Prompt Card you can pick up when you join the church prayer chain. Yet at the top of that list you will see my desire to see revival in this church.

I am convinced we will never be the church we want to be unless we become more fervent in prayer. I believe we should plead with God to give us a spiritual breakthrough in this church and community. We should ask him to awaken the lethargic and lukewarm. We must ask him to put soul cravings within the populace of Lake Wales. These inner workings by God are spiritual and thus, our best means of joining with God in seeing this work done is through prayer. So will you join me in praying for our church, as well as these other needs? Will you give yourself to prayer for our church, community, and nation one hour per week? You need not stay kneeled or positioned physically in prayer that whole hour, but we would ask you remain in a spirit of prayer your full time. If you are willing, I invite you to sign up this Sunday for the prayer chain during this season of prayer.

Bear in mind, author E. M. Bounds has written, “Praying is spiritual work, and human
nature does not like taxing, spiritual work.” And Bounds also warns in his book Power Through Prayer that “A prayerless age will only have scant models of divine power”. May God grant us the humility and desire to be greater in prayer. May He persuade us of the priority of and power available through prayer in the Name of Christ.

Praying for His power to fall!
Pastor Scott