Sermon Central
Over the 30-plus years of being the senior pastor of Jefferson Baptist Church, I have come to the conclusion that the most basic key to the health of our church is the volume of prayer that is faithfully practiced by individuals in private and with others. Volume of prayer is a missing ingredient in many churches. I recognize that nobody can pray 24 hours a day, and I don't think that every program in the church ought to be dropped in favor of prayer. But most Christians, if asked, would agree that they should pray more than they do. Most pastors would also agree that their church could pray more.
I believe that, everything else being equal, the more prayer happens in our church, the more God will bless our church. "Much prayer--much blessing, little prayer--little blessing, no prayer--no blessing," has become the motto of our church.
There are many passages in the Bible that demonstrate the validity of this premise. Jesus' Himself prayed all night on numerous occasions. His parables, illustrated with "knock and keep on knocking" and "ask and keep on asking", emphasized the idea of much prayer and of not giving up. In 2 Corinthians 1:11, Paul emphasizes God's favor coming on the basis of the prayers of "many": "You also joining in helping us through your prayers, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed upon us through the prayers of many." In 2 Corinthians 9:6, Paul uses an agricultural law to demonstrate that the more we give to God, the more He gives back. I believe that this principle is not just about giving money: "Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully."
One of the questions that will come to mind is about "much blessing." What exactly does that mean? Over the years of encouraging "much prayer" in our church, I have seen the number of blessings grow as the volume of prayer has grown.
One major blessing of increased prayer is increased unity in the church family. I don't think there is anything more discouraging to people in the church, especially leadership, than disagreements that turn into fights, politics, bitterness, gossip and meanness. Disunity in churches is probably the number one reason that pastors resign from churches, that unchurched people don't come, and that those in the church leave for another church. God loves unity and will sovereignly bring unchurched people to healthy churches.
Disunity happens between staff members of a church over personality clashes, agenda differences and just plain pride. Disunity can happen between board members or between boards and staff. And disunity happens between good Christian people who have clashes over opinions and agendas in the name of Christ.
Leaders pursue unity when they recognize the debilitating effects of disunity on the health of the church family. But usually it is addressed in church meetings, confrontations, church discipline and other such methods that often create even more disunity. Skill and wisdom in dealing with conflicts is important, but apart from God working in the church, little real unity will result. The prayer of Jesus in John 17:21 illustrates the need for prayer to produce unity: "That they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You sent Me." Church leadership needs to encourage, admonish and teach the church to pray all the time for God to "make us one, even as You are one." The more we pray this prayer, the more God will implement it in our churches. "Much prayer--much unity."
Another major blessing that God will give to a church that prays "much" is a growing love for one another and for unbelievers. Paul prays for the church in Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians 3:12. "And may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all men, just as we also do for you." Love is the big command in the New Testament. Jesus declared that our love for one another would be the major thing that would draw the unbelieving world to our Savior. Paul declared that one of the major goals of his ministry was that those who heard and read the Word would love one anther with a pure heart. The more we pray in a church, the more God will work in the people of the church and cause them to grow in love. 1 Thessalonians 3:12 says that God will cause us to increase and abound in love, not only for each other in the church but also for all men. As our love increases and abounds for all men, our efforts to win them for Christ will increase. Evangelism will become more and more an outflow of a church that loves the world. "Much prayer--much love."
Another blessing that comes to a church that prays "much" is that the preaching of the pastor will get better and better. I especially like this blessing. It isn't hard to come to the conclusion in studying the New Testament that preaching is the center of a healthy church. It also isn't hard to recognize, as a pastor who has preached a lot over the years, that there is bad preaching, average preaching, good preaching and really good preaching. Almost every preacher of the Bible recognizes that God's anointing on the preacher is critically important for the spoken word to powerfully impact the hearers. The absolute, most important key to anointing in preaching is prayer--not a little prayer, but much prayer. Not just prayer by the preacher, but also prayer on the part of every person who regularly listens to the preacher. "Much prayer--anointed preaching."
Another major blessing that comes to a church characterized by "much" prayer is that people are more willing to get involved in the ministry of the church and to be a functioning part of the Body of Christ. Jesus saw the problem of few workers, and in Matthew 9:37-38 He encouraged his disciples to pray. "Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.' "
I am often asked what I believe is a major key to a growing church. I believe that the most important requirement for a church to grow is to have most of those in the church faithfully and effectively functioning in the area of their Spiritual gifts. Paul, I believe, teaches this in Ephesians 4:16: "The whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love." This won't happen, though, unless there is much prayer. "Much prayer--much serving."
Another blessing God gives to the church that prays much is that people give their money to the church more sacrificially and joyfully. In our day of economic woes, this is especially important. A characteristic of the church in the Book of Acts was that they prayed much. A major blessing of that prayer was in the generous giving that followed. In Acts 4:24, there was a major congregational prayer meeting called because of the persecution that had come to the church. Four major results are seen almost immediately following that prayer meeting, and one of them was described in Acts 4:34-35: "For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales, and lay them at the apostles' feet; and they would be distributed to each, as any had need." As pastors and preachers we often do a lot of preaching, encouraging, and even imploring about giving, but often we don't pray much about the giving of those in our church. "Much prayer--much giving."
Another great blessing that comes to praying churches is that God opens up doors to individuals in the church and to the church as a whole to new ministry opportunities. God is the One in charge, and He is the One who gives us responsibility to serve Him. Nobody invents opportunities to serve as much as they accept them as God gives them. There is nothing worse, in my mind, than being a person or church that is "on the bench" instead of "in the game." The fun thing about God giving the opportunities and opening the door is that He always gives all the resources, wisdom and strength to accomplish what He assigns to us. "Much prayer--much opportunity."
I have personally identified "Twelve Blessings for Praying Churches." I have written about just six of them in this article. I personally review those blessings almost every day. It only takes about five minutes to think about each area of blessing and to consider how our church is doing in those areas. The daily practice of this meditation keeps me motivated to pray much and to continually work at leading our church to much prayer.
I am never satisfied with the volume of my personal prayer. I am always trying to discipline myself and my schedule to be able to pray more. I don't particularly enjoy prayer itself, but I sure do enjoy the blessings that God gives when I do pray. It is so easy to let ministry and life use up my time and to have my prayer time slip back to smaller amounts of time. I pray a lot, not because I am disciplined or godly, but because I truly believe that "much prayer" does result in "much blessing."
