A Call to Prayer

I was sitting in chapel near the end of the fall semester when Dr. Fish asked, “How many of our churches are characterized by prayer? How many of our lives are characterized by prayer?”

I’d encourage you to listen to his message. You can also find it on YouTube.

He asked these questions in reference to how are the early church devoted themselves to prayer (Acts 2:42). I would like to think about these questions by asking “have we devoted ourselves to prayer?”

For the Christian life, prayer is as necessary as eating and drinking. It is a vital part of our walk with God. The question “have we devoted ourselves to prayer/” really shouldn’t be asked. I know the normal expectation is that we do devote ourselves to prayer. Take a moment as you read this article to reflect on your own prayer life. Some of you have devoted yourselves to prayer. Praise God! Even though you’ve devoted yourself to prayer you still feel the burden to pray all the more. Others of us know we are not where we would like to be in our prayer lives. Wherever you find yourself let us not linger on the question of how well we are doing. Let us simply devote ourselves to prayer.

Now is the time to pray. Look around the world and ask yourself what you need to pray for. There are too many things for us to pray about. It seems as if the world is in chaos. It’s difficult for people to discern between what is true and what is false, even within the church. The lost are still lost. They need Jesus to save them from their impending eternal destination. The saints need encouragement to love one another and fulfill the Great Commission given by the Lord Jesus.

God is the answer to the world's problems. He is also the answer for our lack of devotion to prayer. Recognize where your prayer life is and go to Him in prayer. God already knows. He is waiting for you to approach His throne of grace (Heb. 4:16). Ask the Lord to help you learn to “pray without ceasing” (1 Th. 5:17). Ask Him to help you to “continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving” (Col 4:2).

Some of you may ask “how should I pray?” I suggest you look up the prayers of the Bible. A simple word search will suffice. Read these prayers and begin to pray as the saints did in Scripture. Go to Matthew 6:9-13 and pray that prayer until you begin to envision praying that way everywhere you go. Go to Ephesians 3:14-21 and pray Paul’s prayer until it becomes your heartbeat for the church. Pray by yourself, pray in the morning and pray in the evening, pray throughout the day. Join your church’s prayer meeting. Start a prayer meeting. Pray with your family. Pray for you neighbors. Pray for the lost by name. Pray for missionaries. Pray for the saints in your church by name. Pray weekly, monthly or quarterly with other believers. Devote yourself to praying at all times and in different ways. I have no doubt that as we do this we will see God answer our prayers again and again. We will see Him do what only He can do.

I originally wanted to write an article about the need for planting more churches. But as I thought and prayed about it the Lord reminded me that prayer is the starting point for any harvest (Mt. 9:38). So let us devote ourselves to prayer. Encourage the saints to pray. Focus on building one another up (Eph. 4:29). Especially pray for God to move so that we are all drawn to enter His throne room.

Reagan Banasky graduated from Emmaus Bible College with a B.S. in Bible Exposition and Theology and went on to earn an M.A. in Ministry Leadership from Columbia Internation University. He has taught in the Educational Ministries department at Emmaus since 2017.