Praying will never be easy. The battle is often unseen, distractions are constant, and motivation sporadic. Nevertheless, we must have praying churches. In order to have praying churches, we ourselves must pray. Without this essential ministry, we accomplish nothing that will last.

Once upon a time, in a world far, far away churches had prayer meeting every week. People knew that coming to church in the middle of the week was primarily for praying, even though a few other activities took place as well. Everyone knew that praying was the purpose and the focus of the meeting. Well, something happened along the way. Gradually other activities, primarily for children and valuable in themselves, replaced the prayer meeting. Eventually more people came for the activities than the praying, and other people just stopped coming. Today not many churches have a church-wide prayer meeting. Although small groups meet for Bible study and praying, most people do not attend these small groups, and the experience of total church involvement in praying together and learning how to pray by listening to many different people pray has become almost extinct. This decline in prayer meeting in America has also occurred during the same period of time that the American culture has sunk into moral chaos.

How do you handle the complex, heartbreaking situations you face? What do you say to the wife whose husband uses much of his paycheck to buy alcohol? What do you say to the son or daughter whose father or mother is abusive, cruelly selfish, drugged, or drunk? What do you say to parents who find out their son’s girlfriend is pregnant? What do you say to the young couple who find out that their soon-to-be-born baby will have physical defects? What do you say to those who are disillusioned by other pastors and churches?

Although you may not know what to say, one option is always available: you can pray. The fastest way to help others is to pray. You may not be able to see them or talk to them, you may not know what to say to them, but you can pray for them.

Yet, we know this. We know the theology of praying. We read books about praying and have a wealth of knowledge about praying. We’ve heard people pray, we know the basic technique, and we know the words to use. We know the needs. So why is praying so hard? (Praying must be hard, since so few individuals and churches have regular times for praying.)

A Matter of Priority

The apostles decided they had two priorities: prayer and the ministry of the Word of God (Acts 6:4). Bible-believing churches have done well on the “ministry of the Word” part. Teaching and preaching the Bible is unquestionably an essential part of biblical ministry. However, we are not as consistent with our praying, either individually or as a church. Incorporating praying into our personal lives and church ministry is very difficult. People sometimes assume that pastors find praying easier since we have plenty of time and perhaps we are more “spiritual” than other people are. Yet praying requires just as much, if not more, effort and dedication from pastors as everyone else, since we have much freedom with our schedule and work. You may be surprised to learn that Sunday is the day on which I find it hardest to pray since the routine and schedule of Lord’s Day is different from other days and much busier.

The difficulty of praying is not unique to our time. Christ encountered people who liked to hear but not do. That is one reason He said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15; cf. vv. 21, 23). James wrote to people who liked to hear but not do, telling us to be remembering doers and not forgetting hearers (James 1:22). John the Baptist wanted to see evidence of repentance (“doing”) before he baptized people (Matt. 3:8). The disciples did not ask, “Teach us how to pray”; they said, “Teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). The “doing” has always been hard for us. Christ motivated people to pray by His own example and by His teaching. For example, He told His followers to “ask, seek, and knock” in order to receive, find, and have the door opened to them (Matt. 7:7). Our asking is a key to getting answers. There is not a magic secret to praying. You just do it.

Read More