The Thread of Prayer
The mission of God is big. He has called us to spread His name, His gospel and glory to those who are hopeless. This is humanly impossible. Jesus’ disciples learned this truth in Matthew 17.14-21 when Jesus pointed out to them that the humanly impossible could be done if they had faith like a grain of mustard seed (17.20).
Jesus had commissioned the disciples to do this very work of healing, but they fail here. Christ tells them that their faith was weak and lacking. The disciples seemed to be confident that they could do this, but the failure seems to lay in the fact that they were relying on their own gifts instead of making God the object of their confidence. How often do we this? We try to live the Christian life relying on what we can do, but in that case we will only get what is humanly possible. But that is not what we want. We want to see the humanly impossibly done in our midst. We want to see lives changed, marriages thriving, families flourishing and disciples living passionately and boldly for the glory of God. Jesus says such a thing with people is impossible, but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19.26). We need the thread of prayer through the fabric of our lives, so that we can live for the glory of God, for God’s mission.
So, may we pray in the following areas of our lives.
But whenever you pray, go into your room,close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you (Matthew 6.6). We should be people who practice prayer privately. It is important for us to have this discipline in our lives. When is that time during the day that you have set aside for private prayer and bible reading?
Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as the weaker partnersand show them honor as fellow heirs of the grace of life. In this way nothing will hinder your prayers (1 Peter 3.7). Pray with your spouse. Love and respect each other and you will not have your prayers hindered.
Fathers,do not provoke your children to anger,but raise them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6.4). Pray with your children. Raise them up and train them in this important discipline. Model it for them throughout the entire day.
So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness (James 5.16). Pray with others. Take time to pray during your LIFEgroup gatherings, other bible study gatherings, one on one with others, etc.
But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word (6.4). The twelve disciples gave other duties to other servants/deacons, so that they would not neglect the ministry of prayer and the word, which they were set apart for. Elders, staff and other leaders, must not neglect prayer from the opening of a staff meeting, to an elders meeting or any kind of gathering. We should never rush to business before we have had a season of prayer.
Jesus said to them in the temple, “My house shall be a called a house of prayer; but you are making it a robbers’ den (Matthew 21.13). I desire if for our worship gatherings to be filled with prayers and honest worship. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees saying, This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men (Matthew 15.8-9). When we come to gather for corporate worship on Sunday I pray we come ready and prepared. I pray that we would have lived a life of worship during the week, so we can worship on Sunday together with others. I want to encourage you to show up before the gatherings on Sunday start and pray before getting your heart ready. This could simply be 5, 10, or 15 minutes early.
I want to say more about this last topic to mainly the fathers in our body. God has taken me on a journey with my Sunday mornings. I used to get up at 6 or 6:30 am and head out before anyone gets up. I would then find a place to study and pray before the 9 am service. The Lord has led me in that last couple of years to make a change. Instead of getting up and heading out I stay put. I realized that I was asking men of our church to do something that I was not. I was leaving the duties of getting the children ready solely to my wife. Not that my wife could not do it, nor mind it, I believe it is important for me to walk as I am calling you to walk. So, now I get up at the same time and get my heart ready before getting the rest of the house up to get going. I want to encourage you to do the same. Following that I get everyone moving from their beds to get ready for our day. Now does this always work perfectly? No. There is bound to be one of the children sick or some wrench thrown in somewhere. But the goal is to make this a rule and not an exception. There is something special for a child to hear their father say, Rise and shine. It is Sunday. Let’s go to be with the church and worship God together.
Looking forward to seeing you Sunday!
