Healthy Foundations – Prayer
This week I share the sixth of nine targets for healthy churches – Prayer. The three targets under the category of Healthy Foundations are Gospel, Scripture, and Prayer. From the church’s beginning they devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to prayer (Acts 2:42). As the disciples followed Jesus, they took notice of his prayer life. At one point they invited him to teach them to pray. Jesus responded by teaching them a model prayer (Luke 11:1-4). Key to the model pray is a submission to the will of God and a reliance upon His power and provision. Prayer is where we learn to first seek and submit to the kingdom of God and trust that he will provide all we need to see HIs kingdom and righteousness bear fruit in our lives. Prayer is our lifeline to God. Churches do well when they teach their members to pray both privately and corporately. It is clear in Scripture that Jesus intends for his house to be a house of prayer. God also intends to do greater works through us than Jesus did (John 14:12-14), and prayer is the primary means by which He keeps us reliant upon Him and enables us to do His works in power. It was during a prayer meeting on the day of Pentecost that God first sent His Spirit to empower His church. The Spirit continues to empower revitalization in churches today through prayer. In a day where prayer meeting have been replaced by other activities it may be time for us to recapture the priority and practice of praying together once again. As we do, we may once again see the power and provision of God fill our congregations, and a fresh wind of His Spirt emboldening our proclamation of the gospel within our communities. Amen? Amen! – Dr. Gary Mathes