Post No. 8 - Reading Time: 4:45

Sunday we had a great service at Calvary, in spite of the weather. I initially thought that there would be a drop in attendance because of the cold and the previous snow, but as usual, the people of Calvary amaze me with their faithfulness and commitment to our assembly.

That may have set the tone for the excitement that was in the air, but the real openness to God comes from each of us drawing closer to him in prayer this year.

I admit my struggle to build a consistent and immersive prayer life has been ongoing. My prayer life has always had its ups and downs, but last year, as I worked nights at the school as a janitor, it really took its toll. I wouldn’t go as far as saying “lip service,” but I began to feel really distant from the Lord. That distance turned into more of a focus on saying I was sorry and asking for help to keep up. Pretty much a “me” centered focus.

Just Getting By

Our lives are not supposed to be centered around just making it through the day. God wants our lives to mean so much more. He wants us to go beyond our abilities and strength and experience his power. Much of that power comes through prayer.

It’s fine to pray for strength each day, but strength for what? Is it just to get through the day and collapse in bed at night, apologizing to the Lord and promising to do better the next day, or is it for so much more.

That’s, in fact, the word I keep hearing from the Lord, “More!” It reminds me of the verse that says, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” (Luke 12:48)

Not Enough?

I think the way we circumvent this verse and what is says is by comparison. Thereby convincing ourselves that we don’t have much, as compared to what some possess—be it wealth, strength, position, education, or something else. Yes, others may have more and sometimes we feel they don’t deserve it because they came by it so easily. Whether that’s true or not, our focus has been displaced to excuse ourselves from the responsibilities we do face. What are we doing with what God has given us.

Immediately, in our materialistic society, we start thinking of the stuff around us. However, the more important reality is what we possess within us. As I said Sunday, it’s all a matter of faith (Where Is Your Faith?) Is our faith in what we can do or what God can do. We develop many needed abilities over time to increase our ability to get stuff done. Yet we neglect developing a consistent prayer life that enables God to get stuff done for us.

When we finally submit to the prayer life God has called us to, then results will be produced in the prayer closet and not by our efforts (except the effort we pour into prayer). Many self-driven people would call this a cop-out. Instead it places the glory for what is accomplished by the Lord and not on ourselves. 

Lead With Prayer

A great book to help us focus our lives on the power of prayer in our labor for the Lord is Lead With Prayer by Ryan Skoog, Peter Greer, and Cameron Doolittle. They investigated the spiritual habits of world-changing leaders and discovered (although well-known) the secret to their success. It is prayer. Asking God to do for them what he said he would do for anyone.

With this knowledge in mind, it is time to us to retreat to the “place of prayer” and see God begin to do great things on our behalf. A constant warning I repeat at Calvary is, “Don’t wait until it’s too late.” We need to approach God out of a desire to fellowship with him and serve his purpose, rather than desperation that if we do not then everything will fall apart.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to the continued growth and effectiveness of our church in this community. If we will accept that God has called us to a season of prayer and respond by developing consistent daily prayer, he will move mountains for us.

Do Your First Works Again

I have presented two previous calls to prayer on a church-wide basis during my time as pastor here at Calvary. The problem with them was I was not willing to take the lead by example, knowing how poor my prayer life was. My hope was that others would fill in the gap in prayer that I was producing in our fellowship. I do well in public prayer times, but my private prayer life was inconsistent at best. This time I’m going to win that battle and be a “man of prayer.” (Psalm 109:4)

Until next Monday, may the Lord bless you! Pray for us!

Pastor Brian Jenkins

Calvary Assemblies of God