I wanted to write a blog on prayer. As a retired pastor, I have always thought prayer is undoubtedly an unused resource of the modern church. We have not because we ask not according to the book of James.
While doing some research on how to approach this subject, I found an old church newspaper clipping by Leonard Ravenhill. The excerpt did not include the date.
No Christian is Greater Than His Prayer Life
“The church has many organizers, but few agonizer’s; many who pay but few who pray; many resters, but few who are wrestlers; many who are enterprising, but few who are interceding. People who are not praying are playing.
Two prerequisites of dynamic Christian living are vision and passion, and both of these are generated in the prayer closet. The ministry of preaching is open to a few. The ministry of prayer is open to every child of God.
Don’t mistake action for unction, commotion for creation, and rattles for revivals.
When we pray, God listens to our heartbeat. Hannah’s lips moved, but her voice was not heard ( I Samuel 1:12, 13). When we pray in the Spirit, there are groanings which cannot be uttered (Romans 8:26).
Tithes may build a church, but tears will give it life. That is the difference between the modern church and the early church. Our emphasis is on paying, theirs was on praying. When we have paid, the place is taken. When they had prayed, the place was shaken (Acts 4:32).
In the matter of effective praying, never have so many left so much to so few. Brethren, let us pray.”
Why Revival Tarries was the original publisher, my clipping does not have a date, but the file from which it came is at least 30 years old.
I hope this will be a reminder for all of us to pray more. All we have to do is look around, our country, as well as our churches, need prayer. The kind of prayer that God honors. Not the prayer that sounds good but the one that moves the hearts of our churches toward God.
