Jesus Army: Magazine - Prophetic Word

“THE CHRISTIAN should work as if all depended on him, and pray as if it all depended on God.” The words of the famous British Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon. But I can’t help thinking that we’re often far, far better at the first of these two pithy exhortations than the second – particularly when I review my own life and the life of those I’m building church with. We certainly “live as though it all depends on us” - often with high blood pressure, stress, and sleepless nights to prove it.

It’s not that my friends and I don’t know the importance of prayer. We know the arguments, the sound reasons why prayer is so vital. The New Testament commands prayer. Great saints through the ages were all pray-ers. Books on prayer have poured from Christian pens (and latterly PCs) reminding us that prayer is everything from “the key to revival” to “the heart’s true home”. Most persuasive of all, Christ Himself made time for prayer – and if He needed to be deliberate about it, how much more should we?

No, it’s not that we don’t believe prayer is important, at least in theory. But my strong suspicion is that many, secretly, perhaps even secretly from ourselves, consider prayer to be difficult, fruitless, and probably a waste of the time we could use to “work as if all depends on us”. And, of course, we can also be only too aware of those who use “prayer” as a spiritual-sounding excuse for not getting their hands dirty in the nitty-gritty of living for Christ in a hurting world.

But it won’t do. Eventually, we come to the end of our own hard work, good ideas and natural energy. We find ourselves tired out, disappointed and angry, and come to the realisation that to “work as if all depends on us” can only be truly fruitful if we also “pray as if all depends on God.”

Because, actually, all does, ultimately, depend on God. “I will build My church,” says Jesus. Yes, we are, amazingly, His co-labourers – but His work comes first. It must precede and regulate our work. He’s the foreman; we do as we’re told. Otherwise we’re going to find ourselves building the wrong building.

Yet prayer offends natural thinking. Can “speaking into the air” really change things, we wonder in that secret, heretical part of our mind? Must we really “walk by faith” and “wage war” with spiritual weapons not natural ones?

In fact, the warfare in which the church engages is a key factor in the prayerlessness that so often afflicts us. “We are not unaware of Satan’s schemes,” wrote Paul (2 Corinthians 2:11). Was Paul’s awareness of satanic strategy connected to his habit of praying constantly (2 Thessalonians 1:11)? Certainly, it is a key strategy of the enemy to stop the saints praying. “Take your stand against the devil’s schemes,” urges Paul, “With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying” (Ephesians 6:10,18).

At this point some readers’ eyes will be glazing over. “Yes, yes; we should pray more. We know that.” But how to fit it in to a busy schedule? Even knowing how vital prayer is (Bill Hybels wrote a book called Too Busy Not To Pray), we can still struggle to build sustainable habits of prayer into life.

In the Jesus Fellowship, we have a “Prayer Watch” – a semi-coordinated way for people to sign up for a particular hour in which they commit to pray each week.

For some years my signed-up for prayer hour was three till four am (isn’t that when all true prayer warriors pray?) I think I managed it twice. Most of my prayer-life was haphazard with good spells and bad spells, and tended to be crisis-driven. There’s a good scriptural precedent for the “God help us!” approach to prayer, but I wouldn’t advise it as a comprehensive approach.

Eventually (I can be slow on the uptake), driven by sheer desperation to actually work with God, I sacked the highly unrealistic small hours effort and began to take a walk late on Sunday evening around the park near where I live. I walk; I “think with God”; I unburden anxieties to Him. Sometimes (quite often actually) I hear Him speak (easy when I listen!) I pray. Yes – I actually pray.

Some 18 months later, I wonder how I ever survived without it. That hour has become the pivot of my whole week. It works because it does, genuinely, fit into life’s routine; it’s realistic. Dramatic or sweeping ideals usually remain just that for me – unrealised ideals. It’s important to find time for prayer that can be sustained and become part of life’s pattern.

Having a prayer hour, of course, is just one approach. I have found it transformative. Another approach which has taken on quite a life of its own in the Jesus Fellowship is “1-1-1 prayer”: the simple, daily habit of stopping at one o’clock in the afternoon to pray for one person for one minute. This may not seem like very much, but it is a little rhythm of prayer, a little daily reminder of the all-important truth that we depend on God. And it stimulates prayerfulness that spills over into the rest of life: other, more spontaneous prayer begins to flow, especially in our corporate life together. We’ve called this the “Prayer Revolution”.

“Prayer Revolution” can express itself in all manner of ways. After a conversation with someone (whether about something vexatious or encouraging) why not pray together about it, agreeing in faith together, or thanking God? Before an important conversation, pray for the right words to bless and free the person; before meals; the moment you hear a friend is sick or in trouble – opportunities for prayer to be entwined into life abound. Prayer is habit forming.

Those who live to see the church of Jesus advance, fulfilling its great commission, live filled with burning desires. They’re passionate people who long for much, who ache with deep aspirations. They share the yearning heart of Jesus and His apostles we read of in the pages of the New Testament. But left to themselves, cut off from their source in God, aches can become frustrations. And frustrations can harden into disappointment. “Hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Proverbs 13:12).

But these very frustrations, even, can be turned into prayer: this is us working with God. Faith rises; we share His great heart. It all depends on Him.