When All You Can Do Is Pray
Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you...
(1 Samuel 12:23).
Have you ever told a friend in need, "All I can do is pray", as if it would really be better if you could perform some action rather than JUST pray? Sometimes if you are near the loved one, it is possible to help in tangible ways - shopping, cooking a meal, picking up children from school, babysitting, cleaning their house, etc.
Often prayer becomes an addendum to what we can DO.
It is when we are not near the one we are concerned about, we might say, "All I can do is pray.
" Lest you think that praying is secondary or not enough, hear the testimonies of these men of God.
George Mueller, a 19th century English evangelist and founder of orphanages, was known to have kept a detailed journal of his prayers.
One page was devoted to his prayer and another to the answer.
Over his lifetime, he calculated that fifty thousand of his requests had been answered.
R.
T.
Kendall (who served as pastor of the great Westminster Chapel for twenty-five years) did what he could to prepare his sermons and followed through with his commitment to preach them.
It was the prayers of others that gave him the sense of being borne "on eagle's wings.
" Wesley Duewel, missionary to India for nearly twenty-five years and the author of numerous books on prayer and missions, states: Your prayer for world harvest can be more effective today because God in His sovereignty is coordinating world trends to make rapid fruitfulness available to His children.
If we will put priority on prayer and obedience, this can be earth's greatest harvest time.
Not every Christian is called to go.
Not every Christian is able to make a substantial financial contribution to the work of Christ's kingdom.
But there is no limit to what any Christian may accomplish through prayer! Consider, with Oswald Chambers, the importance that Christ places on prayer.
It is Christ...
who also maketh intercession for us...
The Spirit...
maketh intercession for the saints.
Romans 8:34, 27.
Do we need any more argument than this to become intercessors- that Christ "ever liveth to make intercession"; that the Holy Spirit "maketh intercession for the saints"? Are we living in such vital relationship to our fellow men that we do the work of intercession as the Spirit-taught children of God? Both John Bunyan and A.
J.
Gordon have been credited with saying, "You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.
" God is the only One who can accomplish what is really needed.
The best thing you can do is pray.
(1 Samuel 12:23).
Have you ever told a friend in need, "All I can do is pray", as if it would really be better if you could perform some action rather than JUST pray? Sometimes if you are near the loved one, it is possible to help in tangible ways - shopping, cooking a meal, picking up children from school, babysitting, cleaning their house, etc.
Often prayer becomes an addendum to what we can DO.
It is when we are not near the one we are concerned about, we might say, "All I can do is pray.
" Lest you think that praying is secondary or not enough, hear the testimonies of these men of God.
George Mueller, a 19th century English evangelist and founder of orphanages, was known to have kept a detailed journal of his prayers.
One page was devoted to his prayer and another to the answer.
Over his lifetime, he calculated that fifty thousand of his requests had been answered.
R.
T.
Kendall (who served as pastor of the great Westminster Chapel for twenty-five years) did what he could to prepare his sermons and followed through with his commitment to preach them.
It was the prayers of others that gave him the sense of being borne "on eagle's wings.
" Wesley Duewel, missionary to India for nearly twenty-five years and the author of numerous books on prayer and missions, states: Your prayer for world harvest can be more effective today because God in His sovereignty is coordinating world trends to make rapid fruitfulness available to His children.
If we will put priority on prayer and obedience, this can be earth's greatest harvest time.
Not every Christian is called to go.
Not every Christian is able to make a substantial financial contribution to the work of Christ's kingdom.
But there is no limit to what any Christian may accomplish through prayer! Consider, with Oswald Chambers, the importance that Christ places on prayer.
It is Christ...
who also maketh intercession for us...
The Spirit...
maketh intercession for the saints.
Romans 8:34, 27.
Do we need any more argument than this to become intercessors- that Christ "ever liveth to make intercession"; that the Holy Spirit "maketh intercession for the saints"? Are we living in such vital relationship to our fellow men that we do the work of intercession as the Spirit-taught children of God? Both John Bunyan and A.
J.
Gordon have been credited with saying, "You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.
" God is the only One who can accomplish what is really needed.
The best thing you can do is pray.