BEYOND OUR FOUR WALLS

 

Paul lists some of the many wounds he suffered for the cause of Christ in these verses in 2 Corinthians 11. He writes:

“Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—” (v. ‭23‬-‭27). 

I must confess that I have never suffered anything like that as a minister of Christ. There is one area though that I have known to some degree. That is when the Apostle adds, “besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches,” (v.  28‬‬). 

My ministry position for the past four and one half years has been that of Mission Strategist for Haywood Baptist Association. I have worked with over sixty churches during that time. I have seen one new church birthed. I have seen two die. There are a couple that may as well be. A few others are on hospice care. One was dismissed from the fellowship for doctrinal deviation. Other churches are holding their own. Some—thank God—are thriving. 

It is a daily, deep concern as Paul called it—not for one church, but all the churches.  One of the things that is so challenging is that this burden seems to be not widely shared among our churches. The value of an association is often forgotten in the fixation on the local congregation we serve. Even a spirit of jealousy and competition is present. We forget that the family of God involves others besides our local assembly. 

I get it. I pastored churches for over forty years. The problems and potentials in the flock we shepherd consumes so much time and energy. Finding enough dollars for ministry opportunities in our community is a stretch, much less looking at a wider range. 

Paul was not whining. He was just telling it like it is. I am asking you to consider joining me in concern for all the churches in Haywood Baptist Association, the Baptist State Convention of NC that we are part of, and the Southern Baptist Convention with whom we affiliate. Really, we ought to pray for and partner with all Bible-believing churches around the world. 

Time is short. Opportunity is passing. God help us to seize the day and ever look for greater impact and wider opportunity!

CHRIST’S PASSIONATE PRACTICE OF PRAYER

The passion for prayer Jesus demonstrated presents an imperative for us.  We are to be His followers and if we are not a people of prayer, then we will not only fail in following Him in this, but other areas as well.  The disciples entreated Him, “Lord, teach us to pray!”  That is to be our plea—not just teach us how to pray, though certainly needful—but teach us to pray, to do it!  Andrew Murray says it well:

We see how foolish and fruitless the attempt must be to do work for God and heaven, without – starting with prayer in the first place – getting the life and the power of heaven to possess us. Unless this truth lives in us, we cannot avail ourselves aright of the mighty power of the name of Jesus Christ. His example must teach us the meaning of His name.

Of His baptism we read, Jesus also being baptized and praying, the heaven was opened. It was in prayer that heaven was opened to Him, that heaven came down to Him with the Spirit and the voice of the Father. In the power of these, He was led into the wilderness, in fasting and prayer, to have them tested and fully appropriated. Early in His ministry, Mark records, And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place and prayed there (1:35). And somewhat later Luke tells us that great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities. But he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed (5:15-16). He knew how the holiest service, preaching, and healing can exhaust the spirit; how too much intercourse with men could cloud the fellowship with God; how time – full time – is needed if the spirit is to rest and root in Him; how no pressure of duty among men can free us from the absolute need for much prayer. If anyone could have been satisfied with always living and working in the spirit of prayer, it would have been our Master. But He could not; He needed to have His supplies replenished by continual and long-continued seasons of prayer. To use Christ’s name in prayer surely includes this, to follow His example and to pray as He did. 

Of the night before choosing His apostles, we read, he went out into the mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God (Luke 6:12). The first step towards the constitution of the church, and the separation of men to be His witnesses and successors, called Him to special long-continued prayer. All had to be done according to the pattern on the mount. The Son can do nothing of Himself but he sees the Father do. It was in the night of prayer that it was shown to Him. 

In the night between the feeding of the five thousand – when Jesus knew that they wanted to take Him by force and make Him king – and the walking on the sea, he went up into a mountain apart to pray (Matt. 14:23; Mark 6:46; John 6:15). It was God’s will He had come to do, and it was God’s power He was to show forth. He had it not as a possession of His own; it had to be prayed for and received from above. The first announcement of His approaching death, after He had elicited from Peter the confession that He was the Christ, is introduced by the words, And it came to pass as he was alone praying (Luke 9:18). The introduction to the story of the transfiguration is that he went up into the mountain to pray (Luke 9:28). The request of the disciples, Lord, teach us to pray (Luke 11:1), follows And it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place. In His own personal life, in His intercourse with the Father, in all He is and does for men, the Christ whose name we are to use is a Man of prayer. It is prayer that gives Him His power of blessing, and transfigures His very body with the glory of heaven. It is His own prayer-life that makes Him the teacher of others in how to pray. How much more must it be prayer, prayer alone, much prayer, that can fit us to share His glory of a transfigured life, or make us the channel of heavenly blessing and teaching to others. To pray in the name of Jesus Christ is to pray as He prays. 

As the end approaches, it is still more prayer. When the Greeks asked to see Him, and He spoke of His approaching death, He prayed. At Lazarus’s grave, He prayed. In the last night, He prayed His prayer as our High Priest, that we might know what His sacrifice would win, and what His everlasting intercession on the throne would be. In Gethsemane, He prayed His prayer as victim, the Lamb giving itself to the slaughter. On the cross it is still all prayer – the prayer of compassion for His murderers; the prayer of atoning suffering in the thick darkness; the prayer in death of confiding resignation of His spirit to the Father. (The Ministry of Intercession, Kindle Version, pp. 88-91) 

THE SIN OF PRAYERLESSNESS

Failure to pray is not just a weakness, it is a wickedness. Weigh these words of Andrew Murray:

“It is this we need: God must let us discover how the lack of prayer is the indication of unfaithfulness to our consecration vow, that God should have all our heart and life. We must see that this restraining prayer, with the excuses we make for it, is a greater sin than we have thought; for what does it mean? It means that we have little taste or relish for fellowship with God; that our faith rests more on our own work and efforts than on the power of God; that we have little sense of the heavenly blessing God waits to shower down; that we are not ready to sacrifice the ease and confidence of the flesh for persevering in waiting on God; and that the spirituality of our life, and our abiding in Christ, is altogether too feeble to make us prevail in prayer. When the pressure of work for Christ is allowed to be the excuse for our not finding time to seek and secure His own presence and power in it, as our chief need, it surely proves that there is no right sense of our absolute dependence upon God. There is no deep apprehension of the divine and supernatural work of God in which we are only His instruments, no true entrance into the heavenly and altogether other-worldly character of our mission and aims, and no full surrender to and delight in Christ Jesus Himself. 

If we were to yield to God’s Spirit to show us that all this is the meaning of remissness in prayer, and of our allowing other things to crowd it out, all our excuses would fall away, and we should fall down and cry, “We have sinned! We have sinned!” The prophet Samuel once said, Moreover as for me, in no wise should I sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. Ceasing from prayer is sin against God. May God reveal this to us.” (The Ministry of Intercession, Andrew Murray, pp. 43-44, Kindle Edition).

May we repent of our prayerlessness today!