You do not have because you do not ask God.
James 4:2
Here is a statement that will summarize the remainder of this post: If unrelenting prayer is not central in ministry, it will fail.
There are many questions we ask concerning the work of the Lord. Why are churches struggling to grow members? Why are ministries absent of the Holy Spirit’s power? Why are the members not growing in discipleship and in their love for Jesus? It is because we are failing in praying!
Our greatest stumbling block is our self-sufficiency and in doing so, we have de-exalted the importance of prayer in the church. I find more often than not that people dread going to prayer meetings. And for those who have not yet abandoned the prayer meeting, the atmosphere is strangely pleasant, cordial, and proper. There should be instead a crying out to God. Jesus, in a parable about prayer, says, “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?”
He will not put them off because He is a God who hears and answers prayer! Not a single word uttered in prayer falls to the ground- every word is heard by the heavenly Father along with the attitude by which it was prayed. It rises up as an incense before God’s throne and He will show Himself strong to His people.
The work of the ministry is not done outside of prayer, but in prayer. It wins the battle before it even begins. It starts saving people even before we start sharing the gospel. It drives the Word of God into people’s hearts even before Bible study begins. It removes the influence of Satan even before he has started his divisive schemes. It brings members into our churches even before we tell them we exist. Prayer puts the ministry on wheels! It does everything because it calls upon God Almighty to do it!
The sky is the limit for the church who has devoted themselves to prayer. They will be known in heaven for their excessive noise resulted from their loud and trusting prayers. Conversely, they will be a terror to the kingdom of darkness- winning souls back to Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Most of the shortcomings we have in our minstries can be traced back to poor praying. Poor praying is poor asking. Poor asking is poor faith! And without faith, it is impossible to please God. We need to place prayer in the highest position in our ministries, along with the preaching of God’s Word and the worship of Jesus. This should be the necessity of prayer.
