No man lacks what he gives, he only lacks what he keeps - in this context, if you pray sparingly, you reap sparingly. Only a travailing church can become a prevailing church. Isaiah 66:7-8
Acts 3:1 Every church is expected to have hours of prayer – the apostles were intentional about the hours of prayer. In Leviticus 6:12, God commands us that fire must never get out of the altar.
Therefore, a non-praying church is a dying church - Jesus says the church must be a place of prayer. The world has entered into church and prayer is dying a natural death if the pastor is not careful.The difference between the arrest of James and Peter was that when James was arrested, the church was sleeping, when Peter was arrested the church was praying and the angel was released. God is the almighty, he's sovereign, but his response to our situation is a function of our prayers.
WHY IS PRAYER IMPORTANT IN THE LIFE OF CHURCH WORKER
- Prayer brings revelation - it gives you access to the secrets of God. There are things that God wants to show you, but he can only show you if you are ready to engage in prayer. The devil will take advantage when you have not upgraded your prayer life, that is why many still receive weird dreams of being chased by cows or so.
Through prayer, the secrets that God will show is enough to answer some of the questions that you have been looking for answers for if you are prayerful enough. - Prayers help church workers to build strengths. The journey of ministry may be exciting but it's very risky. Prayer helps to build spiritual capacity.. If the power of Prayer inside you is low, then you ought to faint. If you faint in the day of adversity, Your strength is small – Proverbs 24.10
- Prayer gives us power for litigation and legislation against the forces of hell. Through prayer, we are given a mandate to pass judgment to the gates of hell.
- When people are fighting against the church, it's just because people don't know what to do. There is no weapon that God has not given to us to survive in this world, other than prayer. Read Psalm 141:2, Romans 5:8 and Revelations 8:6. You don't need to be a pastor to pray, just like Epaphras, his prayer was causing havoc in the camp of the enemy in Col 4:12.
- Prayer releases the glory of God within you. On the Mt of Transfiguration, Jesus’ face changed. There is a release of glory within you when you pray. It clothes with glory according to John 17:22
- Prayer impacts us with unusual boldness and can never be intimated by everybody. Remember where you have fallen, and arise, there is still room to arise. It's only the prayer of the saints that can prevent the gates of hell from prevailing against the church of Christ.
As LWA, what we are known for is prayer and if we are not doing that – read Nehemiah 4:6 and Mark 16:17