Prayer, or the Lack Thereof

I have been looking at prayer in great detail over the last few days and I continue to come to the same conclusion that little or nothing is really going to change without it. In reading Galatians you find that after beginning with the Spirit, Paul gets after them and confront them with how they are you now trying to attain their goal in ministry by human effort?’’ (Galatians 3:3). Their service lay in fleshly outward performances. They did not understand that where the flesh is permitted to influence service to God, it soon results in open sin.

So he mentions as the work of the flesh not only grave sins such as adultery, murder, and drunkenness but also the more ordinary sins of daily life: anger, strife, and arguing. Then he exhorts: ‘‘Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. . . . Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit’’ (Galatians 5:16, 25). The Spirit must be honored not only as the author of a new life but also as the leader and director of our entire walk. Otherwise we are what the apostle calls ‘‘carnal’’ or fleshly.

The disciples asked the Lord Jesus: ‘‘Why could we not cast the devil out?’’ His answer was: ‘‘Because of your unbelief.’’ He added: ‘‘Howbeit, this kind goes out only by prayer and fasting.’’ If the life is not one of self-denial—of fasting (letting the world go) and of prayer (laying hold of heaven)—faith cannot be exercised. We have no power in our religious motions of prayer because we refuse to see our true sickness of living in the flesh. We really don’t believe the Bible because if we did we would surely obey it…or at least be in the battle as Paul obviously was over the flesh. In a life lived according to the flesh and not according to the Spirit, we find the origin or sickness of the prayerlessness of which we complain.

The place of private prayer is the key, the strategic position, where decisive victory is obtained.The Wicked one uses all of his power to lead the believer, and most definitely me the preacher to neglect prayer for just about anything else…even the good necessary good things of study and Bible reading. Satan knows that however admirable the sermon may be, however attractive the service, however faithful the pastoral visitation, none of these things can damage him or his kingdom if prayer is neglected. 

When the church closes herself in to the power of prayer (in the Spirit!), and the soldiers of the Lord have received on their knees ‘‘power from on High,’’ then the powers of darkness will be shaken and souls will be delivered. In the church, on the mission field, with the preacher and his congregation, everything depends on the faithful exercise of prayer. It’s incredible how so many distractions come, wandering of my mind, and sometimes even plain unbelief in what I’m praying invades when I bow to pray. May we (I) hold fast with the weapon of prayer as I see my Lord do in the Garden. There is no doubt Satan was attacking with all the demons of hell and so Jesus prayed until blood began to spill out of his pores. Dear God teach us to have a great faith and hold fast to prayer!

Murray, Andrew. Living a Prayerful Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Bethany House, 2002.