“There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God.”
– Brother Lawrence
“Prayer is the root, the fountain, the mother of a thousand blessings.”
– John Chrysostom
“All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.”
Acts 1:14
Last Friday and Saturday, Wild at Heart (John Eldredge) held their Homecoming event here in Colorado Springs. 2,000 people from various countries filled the Pikes Peak Center. It was the most spiritually powerful event I’ve attended, including church services, not because of the speakers, as gifted as they were, but because of prayer.
Most of the sessions included 10-15 minutes of focused prayer. We prayed more in those two days than several years of Sunday church services. There were many moments when the presence of God was thick in the hall, which could only be attributed to prayer. This was far from the typical American Christian conference where a lineup of speakers talk non-stop with no time set aside for prayer. I never understood how some do a “revival conference” without spending at least half their time in prayer. Someone needs to tell them that there were no pastors or teachers in Jonah’s day and it was a massive move of prayer and repentance that turned God’s hand to mercy.
It’s easy to tell when a believer has a strong prayer life. Some Christians quote the Bible, talk about their church, books they’re reading, or ministry they’re involved in. All good things. Those who are PrayerStrong talk about these issues along with how their life is consistently blessed by prayer-sparked God encounters. They hear His voice, know the joy and peace of His presence, are content listening to Him in silence, and cherish their prayer life along with the prayer meetings they attend.
Those who are PrayerStrong are more prone to getting hit with spiritual warfare, which many in the first group won’t understand. If you’ve ever told another believer you’ve been through a rough stretch of warfare and received a blank look in return, you know what I mean. All the speakers from Wild at Heart were PrayerStrong. They spoke of their intimacy with God and the warfare they had to fight their way through. Their emphasis on prayer through the event showed that prayer wasn’t just another topic to teach, but that they knew from personal experience how powerful it was and that prayer should be a significant part of every church meeting – just as it was in the early church. I’ve been in a church plenty of times (including recently) where a pastor said “the church is a house of prayer” yet they never prayed or even had one prayer meeting.
By the way, the only way to be PrayerStrong is to live FleshBroken, which demands humility, confession of sin, facing weaknesses, suffering, choosing joy when we feel like numbing out with a screen or some other false comfort, decreasing the time given to entertainment and the pleasures of this world, and hours in prayer. It is a life that goes against the grain of the status quo. Broken people make the best prayer warriors, not those who think they have it all together or rely on their education and knowledge alone.
The fruit from the Wild at Heart team immersing their Homecoming event with prayer was powerful. Friday night, during one prayer session, as I was praying and sharing with God how weary I was, He brought a picture to my mind of me lying in an open field of grass, surrounded by flowers and trees, with a gentle breeze that touched my core. Saturday morning during another time of prayer He showed me a picture of Heaven where I saw myself jumping for joy. By the time the conference was over my heart was overflowing with life and joy in spite of being physically weary from the long schedule (Saturday was 9am-9pm, Friday, 2pm-9pm).
John Eldredge closed the event with prayer, and we sang “It is well.” The music was played at a low volume and everyone in the building was singing loudly so it was easy to hear the others. I was near tears and didn’t want the song, or the gathering, to end. It was a blessing to not have a roaring loud worship band rocking the walls, which would have ruined the moment.
This, my friends, is what the church could be if it just didn’t preach about prayer but spent significant time praying every Sunday morning.
So I was ruined once more. A church gathering with a 40 minute sermon and 30 minutes of worship doesn’t do it for me. I’m hungry for a church that prays and the blessing of the Presence of God that comes with it. We would do well to blow up our modern liturgy, look at the significant time the early church (and Jesus) spent in prayer, and immerse ourselves in the wonder of it, every Sunday, along with the teaching of God’s word and praise.
“All our libraries and studies are mere emptiness compared with our prayer closets. We grow, we wax mightily, we prevail in private prayer.”
– Charles Spurgeon
This is why, when I speak in churches, I will break the flock up to share and pray. Prayer is the main powerline for the believer in Christ.
How about you? Are you PrayerStrong and FleshBroken? Can you readily speak of a life that is immersed in prayer and all the blessings that come from walking with God?
