Prayerlessness Bane of Church

Prayer is something we don't do enough, and when we do it, we don't do it enough. We don't have enough for prayer today, but we got plenty to complain about. We have our excuses on the reasons why we don't pray more.

We don't have the time, we say. We don't have a place to pray, but those are just flimsy excuses for laziness and prayer. Charles Fanny went out to a grove of woods and prayed, and he found the Lord.

Maybe you can go take a walk today, friends, in the wood, and in that solitude. Maybe you'll bump into Jesus and find him, too. One old boy even prayed out of a fish's belly, and God heard that prayer, even down in the depths of the sea.

God can hear your prayer, friend, from the depths of your troubles, if you will only pray. Anna prayed for a son, and a religious leader thought she was drunk, but he was out of touch with God while she was getting in touch with God, and God heard her desperation and prayer as she poured out her burdened soul to him, and he answered that prayer with a son. Maybe we don't pray enough, because maybe we're not desperate enough.

When the church is satisfied with the status quo, and that means business as usual, then it's usual to be a prayerless church, but prayerlessness is the bane of the church today. But God is looking for the unusual, one that doesn't rely on money and manpower, but who relies solely on God and holy ghost power. Enoch had such sweet fellowship with God in prayer that one day, while they were walking and talking, God just touched Enoch's arm and escorted him to heaven so not to break up the sweet conversation.

Abraham was such a man of prayer that God confided in him. Jacob wrestled with God in prayer for an entire night until he got a blessing, and he had to use a staff the rest of his life to lean on because of his limp. But through that desperate night of prayer, his name was changed to Israel, Prince with God, because he had learned to lean on God in prayer to the point of not letting go.

Daniel was such a man of prayer, old Nebuchadnezzar couldn't get rid of him, and in the lion's den, Daniel slept like a baby on pillows of mane. A prayer will give you courage to go out on a limb like it did for Nehemiah. A prayer will so embolden you like an Esther, you will stand before a king and say, If I perish, I perish! We can get more done in prayer than we can out of prayer.

A prayer made a blind, chained Samson take more enemies of God to their death in his death than when he was alive. Prayer can keep you out of trouble, or a lack of prayer can get you into trouble. Had King David been praying instead of lusting, maybe he would have avoided a lot of trouble in his household.

Elijah prayed, and God showed up heaven and sent a drought. He prayed again, and heaven poured forth a plentiful rain. He was such a praying man, he could literally turn heaven into a revolving door, and it opened up to receive him when it was time to get there in his fiery team of horses.

Paul was praying in his cabin in the midst of a terrible storm at sea, and an angel appeared and told him that no loss of life would occur in the shipwreck, and so it was so. D.L. Moody heard a man say, The world has yet to see what God can do with a man wholly consecrated to him. And Moody walked away, muttering under his breath a prayer of faith, saying, Lord God, make me that man.

And God answered that prayer, and Moody did more for God than all of us put together. John Song prayed, Even if I have to die, I will preach the gospel in China, even if it means a shorter life. John Song shook China for God and then died at the Tandorajah 42.

John Wesley and George Whitfield spent nights in prayer in their holy club for their country, and God used them to turn England upside down in revival. We get more done in prayer, friends, than we do out of prayer, and if that's true, why are we out of prayer? At a time when our nation sits on the very brink of destruction, and our churches lay waste and impotent, why aren't we all crying on our knees, weeping and praying for our young people today who are drunk and debauched and hellbound? Why aren't we up all night praying for our lost loved ones and friends? How in the world can we call ourselves a church if the carpet in our sanctuary isn't soaked with the tears of praying saints crying out to God over the sins of society and the land and the sins of the church? How can the fire fall and consume the sacrifice if no one is there to intercede on behalf of a pagan people? Where are the mothers of prayer today whose eyes are continually red from praying for their lost children? Where, oh, where is the spiritual leader in the home, the man who holds his wife's hand tenderly while he prays for her and leads her in prayer? Why is Satan wreaking havoc on our homes and families like a swinging wrecking ball that destroys marriages and lives? Is it for our lack of prayer? Oh, what will it take to drive us to our knees, to lay hold of God in desperation and prayer? God gets serious with those who get serious with him. One Ezra by a river fasting and seeking God in prayer is enough to preserve a people, restore worship, and rebuild a temple.

Jesus on his knees in Gethsemane, leaning on a tree trunk and agonizing prayer, sweating great drops of blood before he faced the cross should be enough motivation for us to do the same. Go to our knees, get on our cross, and beg God to send revival, to save a nation. Let us pray.