Nothing brings the presence of God like ‘Desperate Worship and Passionate Prayer’.
The Lord hears every prayer, praise and petition but when he hears a desperate cry or a desperate song from a person that is sincerely calling out to Him – He hears and He answers.
God is a God of relationship. And prayer is our voiced communication.
Relationships thrive in an environment where this is real, open and honest interaction.
I am reading an incredible book by Jim Cymbala called ‘Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire’. It”s the story about his ministry in downtown New York.
He was never trained as a pastor.
He never went to seminary school.
But he did know the Lord and he had a heart to do what God was leading him to do.
He began his journey by committing to lead a struggling church with a membership of no more than 15 people at best, but it was unmistakable that God wanted him there. In fact God gave him a very clear and simple message which become the ethos of the church. ” If we call upon the Lord, He has promised in his word to answer, to bring the unsaved to himself, to pour out His spirit among us. If we don’t call upon the Lord, He has promised nothing – nothing at all.”
Jim Cymbala faithfully obeyed this promise by basing his whole ministry on prayer and soon their mid-week prayer meetings became the ‘heart’ of their church.
This passion for prayer is by no means a ‘new’ philosophy. It actually goes right back to before Christ, before David, and even before Moses. The very first mention of this kind of praying goes all the way back to Genesis 4:25-26.
Adam and Eve Have a New Son
25 Adam again had sexual relations with his wife, and she gave birth to another son. She named him Seth.[a] Eve said, “God has given me another son. Cain killed Abel, but now I have Seth.” 26 Seth also had a son. He named him Enosh. At that time people began to pray to the Lord.[b]
Genesis 4:25-26
Before this time, people had only known God as the Creator. He had made the Garden of Eden and the rest of the world, as far as the eye could see.
But now see the wonderful beginning of people collectively praying to the Almighty.
Before the Bible was available, before the first preacher was ordained or the first choir formed, a godly strain of men and woman distinguished themselves from their ungodly neighbors by calling on the Lord. In fact, Gods first people we not called ‘Jews’ or ‘People of Israel’ or even ‘Hebrews’. No, in the very beginning, their name was ‘Those who call on the name of the Lord.”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to go by that name?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to live by that stance?
Because everything really does change in the light of prayer.
We know that Jesus launched the Christian Church while people were praying. The disciples were doing nothing but waiting on God, worshiping Him, communing with Him … when the Holy Spirit was poured out.
We also know that when the apostles were unjustly arrested or imprisoned or threatened, they didn’t call for a protest. They prayed …and the heavens shook, the Spirit came and their chains were broken free.
So why now, when we see evil all around, is not our first response to pray.
We see corruption, lies, deceit, godlessness in schools, governments and even churches and we need to pray. How can the demons of hell make any headway when Gods people pray and call upon His name. It is impossible.
Prayer should be the very heartbeat of our life, our church, and our family. There is nothing more powerful than prayer.
Powerful messages touch peoples lives but prayer changes peoples lives for good.
A few weeks back, I went to a conference held at the ‘Grand West’. It was not something that I would usually choose to attend but I was offered a ticked from a special friend and I felt it would be nice to experience it just once, because those who regularly attend absolutely love it.
But to be honest, I found it really hard to keep ‘the main thing the main thing’ with all the lights and sound and dramatic effects. I am just not good with all that showiness.
But, an unbelieving friend who attended that same conference was really touched by the message and has since been prompted to meet and pray with someone who is helping her on her faith journey.
That, I believe, is where God will really do the work. That is were her life will be altered forever. That is where God will do the secret work – deep inside. In the moments of prayer. In the intimate place in her heart.
Yes, there is a place for ‘Bells and Whistles’. Sometimes that is how we (man) can get peoples attention. But God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He never changes. His story doesn’t have to be added to or taken away from.
I was wrestling with this very thing and few years back and the Lord said to me; ‘If the church should boast of anything, they should boast of me. Not the worship, not the preaching, not the size of the congregation and not of the building.’
This is the very same heart of Jim Cymbala. There is a paragraph in his book where he says ‘If people leave a church meeting talking about what a wonderful sermon the preacher gave or how beautifully the singers sang, the meeting has failed. But if people go home saying ‘Isn’t God good’ or ‘He met me tonight in such a wonderful way’, then the meeting was good. There should be no sharing the stage with the Lord.
How far the churches of today have strayed from this truth.
It is stated so plainly in the word of God;
8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.
James 4:8
That is all it takes. If we press in, He presses back with so much love and peace and joy that we cannot help being changed forever.
What we really need to do more than anything else, is to knuckle down and pray. We need to get together with believers and pray.
We need to encourage our churches to pray. We need to encourage our colleagues to get together to pray. We need to get together with our families and pray.
If we want to see things change, we need to pray.
This country will change when we desperately pray. Lives will change when we choose to pray.
Let today be the day that we devote our lives to prayer.