Prayer, Enough Said, Let's Pray

I am just finishing the book Fresh Wind Fresh Fire again for the 4th time. The first time I read it was 1997, when the book first came out. It changed my life. Or should I say, the Lord used that book to change my life. Prayer had always been "important" to me and as a Pastor, I preached how "important" it is for all Christians to have a "prayer life." But this book convicted me deeply about how anemic and impotent my "prayer life" was. It changed my perspective and view, we are not called to be people with a "prayer life," but people who have lives of prayer.

Sounds like a twist or play on words, or as some might say, "that's just semantics." But it isn't. Jim Cymbala's story of how the Lord moved him to see the centrality of prayer in Fresh Wind Fresh Fire for his life and ministry is a witness for us of the same.

"Brothers and sisters, I really feel that I have heard from God about the future of our church...It's not fancy or profound or spectacular...From this day on, the prayer meeting will be the barometer of our church...If we call upon the Lord, he has promised in his Word to answer, to bring the unsaved to himself, to pour out his Spirit among us...No matter what I preach or what we claim to believe in our heads, the future will depend upon our times of prayer." (FWFF, page 27)

Prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit--so often left out, ignored, or restricted by the human heart and mind. Even as Christians, individually, our souls become barren, desolate, and empty--we wonder why. As a church, we can have the best methods, the most contemporary worship, the most programs, and still a power is lacking, transformation isn't happening, things still feel flat.

Maybe, it's because our lives aren't lives of prayer. Prayer that relies on, believes in, and expects God's answer, God's visitation, and God's pouring out His Spirit. Maybe our prayers are lightweight, in that they are empty of real anticipation of God's awesome power being displayed. Maybe it's because prayer has become (if we are praying at all) a necessary ritual, just one more "habit" for us, not the powerful privilege that it really is.

Casting Crowns has a song, What if His People Prayed, that I want to leave with.

What if the armies of the Lord
Picked up and dusted off their swords
Vowed to set the captive free
And not let satan have one more

What if the Church, for heaven's sake
Finally stepped up to the plate
Took a stand upon God's promise
And stormed hell's rusty gates

What if the life that we pursue
Came from a hunger for the truth
What if the family turned to Jesus
Stopped asking Oprah what to do

What if His people prayed
And those who bear His name
Would humbly seek His face
And turn from their old ways

He said that He would hear
His promise has been made
He'll answer loud and clear, yeah
If only we would pray

Prayer, enough said, let's pray expectantly!!!