Ephesians
singing and making
melody in your heart to the Lord;”
The Music of “LIFE” Series:
“Did you think to pray?”
Ere you left your room this morning, Did you think to
pray?
In the name of Christ our Savior,
Did you sue for loving favor, As a shield
today?
When you met with great temptation, Did you think to
pray?
By His dying love and merit,
Did you claim the Holy Spirit, As your guide and
stay?
When your heart was filled with anger, Did you think to
pray?
Did you plead for grace, my brother,
That you might forgive another, Who had crossed your
way?
When sore trials came upon you, Did you think to
pray?
When your soul was bowed in sorrow,
Balm of Gilead did you borrow, At the gates of
day?
Refrain:
Oh, how praying rests the weary! Prayer will change the night to
day;
So in sorrow and in gladness, Don't forget to
pray.
Why such an emphasis on prayer?
We’ve heard it said, ‘prayer is simply
talking to God’. Well, yes, this is true. But, it is much more than
that!
Scripture tells us to pray always; pray without ceasing; pray with God’s
interest
in other people; also, we have not because we pray not; pray
for forgiveness of our sins; pray for the Lord’s will to be done…and the list
goes on and on. We can in our
hearts
and minds all agree of the
need to pray, and the importance of prayer both individually
and corporately…but
today…did we pray? Last Wednesday,
did we meet corporately to pray?
Did today find us through some activity sending up a quick prayer to
God? This
is a good thing, recognizing
that God is always available to hear, however, taking the seriousness of God’s
command to us to pray, we should consecrate some serious time to praying for
the spiritual and weighty things in this life. That is, praying for the things that count
for Eternity. So, it is not just
thinking TO pray…but also, thinking about WHAT and HOW to pray.
Read: Matthew 9:38. The lost are always with us. Jesus, moved with compassion over the lost commands us to pray for His children, “the laborers” to go out and give the Gospel to the lost. God has prepared hearts to be harvested, to be brought to Himself, but, as we heard recently when brother Mark Kittrell was with us, we need to go and invite them to come to Jesus. They need someone to tell them ‘how’ and ‘why’ they need to ‘come’ to Christ.
Some of us may be self-starters, able to teach ourselves new things that
are of interest to us, yet others, need someone to show us “how to” do
something. It is much the same with
the lost, especially if the Holy Spirit has been at work in their lives. They may be anxious and restless with
their lives and are not aware of why they are unsettled. Perhaps the treasure that we hold is the
answer to their dilemma. They may
not realize their need or problem is a spiritual one. God wants to use us to show them His Way
to Eternal Life, and life abundant and victorious, while they are here on
earth.
Jesus was filled with pity and compassion, Matthew tells us, for these
lost ones who wandered about without a shepherd. What are our emotions? Are they like Jesus, full of pity and
compassion for the lost? We have
the key, the Words of Life to give them…why do we hold
back?
Oswald Chambers tells us in the October 16th account of My
Utmost for His Highest “the key to the missionary problem is in the hand of God,
and the key is prayer.”
Prayer keeps our focus and concentration on God. It is possible for physical labor and
activities in the name of the Lord, to cause us to deviate our focus away from
the spiritual work of prayer. How
much more would God’s kingdom benefit if we spent the time praying for laborers
to ‘go forth and reap’ or maybe even going forth ourselves, if in praying the
Lord calls us to share the Gospel.
The time and energy we
expend in other good and well-meaning activities might be better used to
accomplish more through the work of prayer.
We are ‘the called’; ‘ a peculiar people’…for what purpose? Called but for to pray. The Lord has called us for Himself, and
to do His bidding. Be, therefore,
READY! When we pray for His
interest in others, we will have His heart and He will use us! Is that a scary thought?! Well, as we commune with Him and seek to
love Him as He ought to be loved and revered, we will lose ourselves in
Him. We will ‘decrease’ as He
‘increases’. It is, after all, not
about us! Everything is about God,
and only God. We cannot be as the
Laodicean church, “neither hot nor cold”.
We do not want to be in the same disfavor, where the Lord says He will
spew them out!
Let us lay our fears and misgivings aside, and pray with Jesus Christ’s
pity and compassion for the lost.
Let Him use us as He will, when He draws close to our hearts and shares
with us what He would have us to do.
Prepared by Mercedes S. Whelan
for
November 3, 2007