Prayer is something we don't do enough, and
when we do it, we don't do it
enough.
We don't have enough for prayer today, but
we got plenty to complain about.
We have our excuses on the reasons why
we don't pray more.
We don't have the time, we say.
We don't have a place to pray, but
those are just flimsy excuses for laziness and
prayer.
Charles Fanny went out to a grove of
woods and prayed, and he found the Lord.
Maybe you can go take a walk today,
friends, in the wood, and in that solitude.
Maybe you'll bump into Jesus and find him,
too.
One old boy even prayed out of a
fish's belly, and God heard that prayer, even
down in the depths of the sea.
God can hear your prayer, friend, from the
depths of your troubles, if you will only
pray.
Anna prayed for a son, and a religious
leader thought she was drunk, but he was
out of touch with God while she was
getting in touch with God, and God heard
her desperation and prayer as she poured out
her burdened soul to him, and he answered
that prayer with a son.
Maybe we don't pray enough, because maybe we're
not desperate enough.
When the church is satisfied with the status
quo, and that means business as usual, then
it's usual to be a prayerless church, but
prayerlessness is the bane of the church today.
But God is looking for the unusual, one
that doesn't rely on money and manpower, but
who relies solely on God and holy ghost
power.
Enoch had such sweet fellowship with God in
prayer that one day, while they were walking
and talking, God just touched Enoch's arm and
escorted him to heaven so not to break
up the sweet conversation.
Abraham was such a man of prayer that
God confided in him.
Jacob wrestled with God in prayer for an
entire night until he got a blessing, and
he had to use a staff the rest
of his life to lean on because of
his limp.
But through that desperate night of prayer, his
name was changed to Israel, Prince with God,
because he had learned to lean on God
in prayer to the point of not letting
go.
Daniel was such a man of prayer, old
Nebuchadnezzar couldn't get rid of him, and in
the lion's den, Daniel slept like a baby
on pillows of mane.
A prayer will give you courage to go
out on a limb like it did for
Nehemiah.
A prayer will so embolden you like an
Esther, you will stand before a king and
say, If I perish, I perish!
We can get more done in prayer than
we can out of prayer.
A prayer made a blind, chained Samson take
more enemies of God to their death in
his death than when he was alive.
Prayer can keep you out of trouble, or
a lack of prayer can get you into
trouble.
Had King David been praying instead of lusting,
maybe he would have avoided a lot of
trouble in his household.
Elijah prayed, and God showed up heaven and
sent a drought.
He prayed again, and heaven poured forth a
plentiful rain.
He was such a praying man, he could
literally turn heaven into a revolving door, and
it opened up to receive him when it
was time to get there in his fiery
team of horses.
Paul was praying in his cabin in the
midst of a terrible storm at sea, and
an angel appeared and told him that no
loss of life would occur in the shipwreck,
and so it was so.
D.L. Moody heard a man say, The
world has yet to see what God can
do with a man wholly consecrated to him.
And Moody walked away, muttering under his breath
a prayer of faith, saying, Lord God, make
me that man.
And God answered that prayer, and Moody did
more for God than all of us put
together.
John Song prayed, Even if I have to
die, I will preach the gospel in China,
even if it means a shorter life.
John Song shook China for God and then
died at the Tandorajah 42.
John Wesley and George Whitfield spent nights in
prayer in their holy club for their country,
and God used them to turn England upside
down in revival.
We get more done in prayer, friends, than
we do out of prayer, and if that's
true, why are we out of prayer?
At a time when our nation sits on
the very brink of destruction, and our churches
lay waste and impotent, why aren't we all
crying on our knees, weeping and praying for
our young people today who are drunk and
debauched and hellbound?
Why aren't we up all night praying for
our lost loved ones and friends?
How in the world can we call ourselves
a church if the carpet in our sanctuary
isn't soaked with the tears of praying saints
crying out to God over the sins of
society and the land and the sins of
the church?
How can the fire fall and consume the
sacrifice if no one is there to intercede
on behalf of a pagan people?
Where are the mothers of prayer today whose
eyes are continually red from praying for their
lost children?
Where, oh, where is the spiritual leader in
the home, the man who holds his wife's
hand tenderly while he prays for her and
leads her in prayer?
Why is Satan wreaking havoc on our homes
and families like a swinging wrecking ball that
destroys marriages and lives?
Is it for our lack of prayer?
Oh, what will it take to drive us
to our knees, to lay hold of God
in desperation and prayer?
God gets serious with those who get serious
with him.
One Ezra by a river fasting and seeking
God in prayer is enough to preserve a
people, restore worship, and rebuild a temple.
Jesus on his knees in Gethsemane, leaning on
a tree trunk and agonizing prayer, sweating great
drops of blood before he faced the cross
should be enough motivation for us to do
the same.
Go to our knees, get on our cross,
and beg God to send revival, to save
a nation.
Let us pray.