THE BATTLE TO PROTECT PRAYER

We are getting serious about the spiritual battle of guarding space to hear the voice of God in our gatherings. We have tried to say “let’s get together for prayer before the meeting…” and had every intention of doing this, only to see distractions and competing demands break it up. Today we see that this is not a casual matter of logistics – There truly is a war against the potential of a praying group of believers who guard time to hear from the Spirit of God. As it was in the days leading up to Pentecost, and the days following, the gathering of the Body to pray will result in the room (and the world around us) being shaken in a way that others will demand an explanation – and will find that we don’t need to “market” the gospel.

We are done being casual about prayer. If it seems easy, and we are not seeing the world around us changed, then maybe we are just repeating words that sound good rather than engaging in a conversation with the living God. After all, there never was a “plan B” for Christ followers aside from being led by the Spirit of God. (Romans 8:14) If we are not perceiving the leading of God, we are have no way to really follow Him except to emulate what His followers used to do. Is not the definition of prayer to have heard from God? Jesus said that no one could come to Him unless the Father drew him, and that everyone who hears from the Father comes to Him. It’s the way we begin the way of eternal life, and it is also the way we are to live it.

Leonard Ravenhill once said, “Some Day Someone is going to pick up this book (The Bible) and believe it, and put us all to shame.”  Why wait for someone else to do this?