Yesterday was the day set aside as the National Day of Prayer. We celebrated with two different events. Several of the area churches were opened from noon until 6:00 p.m. for people to come by and to pray. I was not able to get away to pray at each church until around 4:30 p.m. and I was very disappointed to hear about the low turn out through out the day in each church. One pastor told me he had only five people show up to pray from all the combined churches during the day.
We celebrated the day in Paradise with two different events. Several of the area churches were opened from noon until 6:00 p.m. for people to come by and to pray. I was not able to get away to pray at each church until around 4:30 p.m. and I was very disappointed to hear about the low turn out through out the day in each church. One pastor told me he had only five people show up to pray from all the combined churches during the day. The second event we sponsored was a night of prayer and praise at the football stadium. The combined worship attendance of all the sponsoring churches is around 1,250 on any given Sunday. We had less than seventy present to participate at the prayer and praise rally last night.
I am amazed how we can find time to do almost anything. People go and play golf, fish, hunt, run their children from town to town and sport activity to sport activity, work excessive hours, attend church at least once a week, volunteer at the schools and in the community, keep manicured lawns, but you try and get God’s people together to pray and watch how the crowds thins out.
It seems we really don’t think we need prayer unless we find ourselves in the midst of some trial or tragedy. I know I will hear the argument that people pray in their private lives. Several surveys would indicate that this does not happen as much as we would hope or think. We can gather a crowd to hear the choir sing, to be entertained by a concert artist, to hear certain well known preachers, to eat and eat some more, but put prayer on the agenda for the church to gather around and watch what the crowds run for the hills. One person said a long time ago that every other service in church is a getting service but the prayer meeting is a giving service.
We have departed very far from the New Testament pattern of corporate prayer. “These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer along with the women, Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.” [Acts 1:14] “And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.” [Acts 2:1] Most scholars agree that what they were doing together in that one place was praying for God to move and fill them with power. “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.” [Acts 2:42] “Now Peter and John were going to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer.” [Acts 3:1] “And when they had been released, they went to their own companions, and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard this, they lifted voices to God with one accord…” [Acts 4:23-24] “And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.” [Acts 4:31]”And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.” [Acts 12:12]
Is this not sufficient evidence to indicate the need for corporate prayer meetings in the church? I have served as the pastor of three different churches. In two of those churches I have sought to establish corporate prayer meetings. In the first of those churches we met early in the morning one day a week to pray. Never did we ever get over five people for those prayer gatherings. Later we changed the time of meeting to 7:00 p.m. one night during the week. Never did we EVER have more than four people show up for those prayer meetings either. We have tried to do the same things here at FBC Paradise. We started with a 5:00 a.m. prayer on Monday mornings. At one time we had five men coming and then it dwindled to three. Later we changed the time of the meeting to 7:00 p.m. on Monday nights hoping we could get some more people to join us. A few times we have had five or six, but mostly we have the same four people show up interceding for others. There are two other prayer meetings in the life of this church with some senior adult ladies who have been praying together for over twenty years and our students who meet to pray at 7:00 a.m. on Wednesday mornings. There are less than a dozen people who make either of these prayer gatherings combined.
Contrast this with the believers in South Korea. They gather every day at 5:00 a.m. to pray by the THOUSANDS. Prayer is so important to them that they go to bed early the night before knowing they have an appointment with the God of this universe each morning with other believers. One church in Seoul, Korea gathers every Friday night for prayer and praise which lasts nearly all night long. Over ten thousand people gather for these meetings even though Saturday is a work day and they get little to no sleep after these corporate prayer services. There is time set aside during the Sunday morning worship services for prayer and thousands of believers remain in their pews long after the service has ended to pray through the message and pray for their nation. What is the end result of all of this praying? The Yodo Full Gospel Church reported 29,000 salvations and a church membership of over 700,000 people in the late 1990’s. They continue to grow to this day because they continue to devote themselves to both private and corporate prayer.
Two scriptures haunt me when I think about public prayers. “’And I searched for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found no one. Thus I poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; their way I have brought upon their heads, declares the Lord.’”[Ez 22:30-31]
When I think about the Paradise community I never want the Lord to be able to say that He sought for someone or some church who would stand in the gap for this community but He could not find anyone. I long to see the day when hundreds of people will gather in Paradise, TX for weekly corporate prayer meetings and to celebrate the National Day of Prayer. But alas, this is not that day, at least not yet. I am not confident that if you gathered all the churches in Paradise and all the corporate prayer meetings that happen in any given week if the total number of participants would even reach one hundred people.
Can we not see how the extinction of public prayer gatherings has impacted the church in a loss of power, loss of salvations, loss of miracles, loss of passion among the membership, and a loss of promoting the glory of God in our congregations? For the believer every day should be a national day of prayer. What happens on the first Thursday in May should simply be a culmination of what has been taking place in all of our prayer lives the rest of the year.
How I pray and yearn and ache for the day when we can live out [Is 62:6-7]. “On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen, all day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind the Lord, take no rest for yourselves; and give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise on the earth.” I pray the Lord would call me, strengthen me and the congregation of FBC Paradise to be watchmen and watchwomen on the walls of Paradise, TX, Wise County and this nation. I ask the Lord to burden our hearts with pangs of petitions so deep in our souls we can not rest nor let the Lord rest from our constant bombarding the doors of Heaven. May we pray night and day until He makes this city and this nation a praise on this earth.
If I could choose for my life and ministry and for FBC Paradise to do one thing exceptionally well I would choose private and corporate prayer. Why? If people and churches learn to pray well, they will be empowered to evangelize well, to do impossible ministry feats, to worship with more enthusiasm and integrity, to see God’s Kingdom expanded more supernaturally through missions, to see God empowered teaching and preaching taking place, to see more mature growth in believers, and to see our cities, counties, and nation revived. May God usher in the day in Paradise, TX where every day is a national day of prayer like in Seoul, Korea.
We celebrated the day in Paradise with two different events. Several of the area churches were opened from noon until 6:00 p.m. for people to come by and to pray. I was not able to get away to pray at each church until around 4:30 p.m. and I was very disappointed to hear about the low turn out through out the day in each church. One pastor told me he had only five people show up to pray from all the combined churches during the day. The second event we sponsored was a night of prayer and praise at the football stadium. The combined worship attendance of all the sponsoring churches is around 1,250 on any given Sunday. We had less than seventy present to participate at the prayer and praise rally last night.
I am amazed how we can find time to do almost anything. People go and play golf, fish, hunt, run their children from town to town and sport activity to sport activity, work excessive hours, attend church at least once a week, volunteer at the schools and in the community, keep manicured lawns, but you try and get God’s people together to pray and watch how the crowds thins out.
It seems we really don’t think we need prayer unless we find ourselves in the midst of some trial or tragedy. I know I will hear the argument that people pray in their private lives. Several surveys would indicate that this does not happen as much as we would hope or think. We can gather a crowd to hear the choir sing, to be entertained by a concert artist, to hear certain well known preachers, to eat and eat some more, but put prayer on the agenda for the church to gather around and watch what the crowds run for the hills. One person said a long time ago that every other service in church is a getting service but the prayer meeting is a giving service.
We have departed very far from the New Testament pattern of corporate prayer. “These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer along with the women, Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.” [Acts 1:14] “And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.” [Acts 2:1] Most scholars agree that what they were doing together in that one place was praying for God to move and fill them with power. “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.” [Acts 2:42] “Now Peter and John were going to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer.” [Acts 3:1] “And when they had been released, they went to their own companions, and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard this, they lifted voices to God with one accord…” [Acts 4:23-24] “And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.” [Acts 4:31]”And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.” [Acts 12:12]
Is this not sufficient evidence to indicate the need for corporate prayer meetings in the church? I have served as the pastor of three different churches. In two of those churches I have sought to establish corporate prayer meetings. In the first of those churches we met early in the morning one day a week to pray. Never did we ever get over five people for those prayer gatherings. Later we changed the time of meeting to 7:00 p.m. one night during the week. Never did we EVER have more than four people show up for those prayer meetings either. We have tried to do the same things here at FBC Paradise. We started with a 5:00 a.m. prayer on Monday mornings. At one time we had five men coming and then it dwindled to three. Later we changed the time of the meeting to 7:00 p.m. on Monday nights hoping we could get some more people to join us. A few times we have had five or six, but mostly we have the same four people show up interceding for others. There are two other prayer meetings in the life of this church with some senior adult ladies who have been praying together for over twenty years and our students who meet to pray at 7:00 a.m. on Wednesday mornings. There are less than a dozen people who make either of these prayer gatherings combined.
Contrast this with the believers in South Korea. They gather every day at 5:00 a.m. to pray by the THOUSANDS. Prayer is so important to them that they go to bed early the night before knowing they have an appointment with the God of this universe each morning with other believers. One church in Seoul, Korea gathers every Friday night for prayer and praise which lasts nearly all night long. Over ten thousand people gather for these meetings even though Saturday is a work day and they get little to no sleep after these corporate prayer services. There is time set aside during the Sunday morning worship services for prayer and thousands of believers remain in their pews long after the service has ended to pray through the message and pray for their nation. What is the end result of all of this praying? The Yodo Full Gospel Church reported 29,000 salvations and a church membership of over 700,000 people in the late 1990’s. They continue to grow to this day because they continue to devote themselves to both private and corporate prayer.
Two scriptures haunt me when I think about public prayers. “’And I searched for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found no one. Thus I poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; their way I have brought upon their heads, declares the Lord.’”[Ez 22:30-31]
When I think about the Paradise community I never want the Lord to be able to say that He sought for someone or some church who would stand in the gap for this community but He could not find anyone. I long to see the day when hundreds of people will gather in Paradise, TX for weekly corporate prayer meetings and to celebrate the National Day of Prayer. But alas, this is not that day, at least not yet. I am not confident that if you gathered all the churches in Paradise and all the corporate prayer meetings that happen in any given week if the total number of participants would even reach one hundred people.
Can we not see how the extinction of public prayer gatherings has impacted the church in a loss of power, loss of salvations, loss of miracles, loss of passion among the membership, and a loss of promoting the glory of God in our congregations? For the believer every day should be a national day of prayer. What happens on the first Thursday in May should simply be a culmination of what has been taking place in all of our prayer lives the rest of the year.
How I pray and yearn and ache for the day when we can live out [Is 62:6-7]. “On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen, all day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind the Lord, take no rest for yourselves; and give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise on the earth.” I pray the Lord would call me, strengthen me and the congregation of FBC Paradise to be watchmen and watchwomen on the walls of Paradise, TX, Wise County and this nation. I ask the Lord to burden our hearts with pangs of petitions so deep in our souls we can not rest nor let the Lord rest from our constant bombarding the doors of Heaven. May we pray night and day until He makes this city and this nation a praise on this earth.
If I could choose for my life and ministry and for FBC Paradise to do one thing exceptionally well I would choose private and corporate prayer. Why? If people and churches learn to pray well, they will be empowered to evangelize well, to do impossible ministry feats, to worship with more enthusiasm and integrity, to see God’s Kingdom expanded more supernaturally through missions, to see God empowered teaching and preaching taking place, to see more mature growth in believers, and to see our cities, counties, and nation revived. May God usher in the day in Paradise, TX where every day is a national day of prayer like in Seoul, Korea.
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