Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread!

What is it about prayer that is so hard?  Why, when we as the people of God, think about spending time with God in prayer are we suddenly engulfed with the enormity of work that prayer entails?  Why do we have to "schedule" prayer time?  Why are we forever reading about prayer, studying about prayer, attending seminars on prayer but not doing very much praying?  I truly think there are two reasons for this strange enigma that surrounds prayer.  But before we get into these two reasons, let me remind the reader that we are discussing the answer to the question:  "Where is the power of the Holy Spirit?"  This was a series of messages that the Lord gave me we I asked Him that very question in prayer.  Now, I apologize for the delay in getting this next installment of my blog posting out, as it has been a while.  However, I have had a bout with pneumonia and bronchitis which left me very weak and tired.  So, feeling a "surge" of energy today, I am continuing with this series.

The first reason I believe we battle to pray is a spiritual one.  I believe the devil will do absolutely everything he can to keep the people of God  from praying!  We see this in the Gospel's where the enemy had successfully turned the Temple of God from being a House of Prayer into a den of thieves.  Ironic isn't it, that what was attacked and subsequently altered was the element of the Temple that made it a place of prayer?  The devil absolutely knows what could happen if the people of God in America went from passivity to pro-activity concerning prayer!  In fact, one of the elements that has been missing from our church, has been the element of our church being a "House of Prayer."  I am glad to say that we are on the road to correcting that!  My wife Kelley, has started a time of prayer on Thursday Nights at 7:00 pm.  It has become the "focal point" of our weekly services seeing God so powerfully responding to our prayers!  Truly we are seeing the powerful truth in what the Lord said in James 4:2---"You have not because you do not ask God!"  When the people of God begin to truly become people of prayer, and our churches become "houses of prayer," then we will begin to see God moving powerfully and miraculously in our families, churches, and communities!

The second reason we battle to pray is because it IS a DISCIPLINE!  That means it's..... WORK!  And if we will be honest with ourselves, the Church in America is NOT used to Christianity and living out our faith to be issues of work!  We prefer comfortable, soft, mild, "just go to church and I've done my spiritual service to God," Christianity.  But truly, this perversion of the faith, is NOT Christianity at all!  Within Christianity, there are several "DISCIPLINES" that are necessary in maintaining the intimacy and power so many of us are hungry for!  Prayer requires more then what many are willing to take the time for, and that's EXACTLY why we are so devoid of the power of the Holy Spirit in the American Church!  The initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit was preceded by 50-days of prayer by the people of God!  For approximately 2-years, the founders of the Church of God (Cleveland, TN.) prayed for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and a "movement" was birthed!  Can we ACTUALLY think that we will experience the kind of power that we have all read about in the New Testament Church and in the historical documents of the early Pentecostal movement ANY other way than the way Believers have been seeking His power since Pentecost?.............  ABSOLUTELY NOT!

My prayer for each and everyone of you who read this blog is that you will begin to become praying people.  The people of God who are seeking deeper intimacy and power with Him, to impact this world for Christ, available to us all............. THROUGH PRAYER!