PRAYING FOR THE BODY
Jesus said we should pray “Give us day by day our daily bread” ( Luke 11:3). It is perfectly proper to pray about the needs of our body. I’m convinced that we could avoid a lot of physical problems if we did as the Lord commands. I suspect that we bring a lot of pain and suffering on ourselves because we fail to pray until after the fact. But today I want to talk about something different. I want to speak about another body for which we ought to pray– the church.
One of the main metaphors used to describe the Lord’s church is the word “body“. The entire twelveth chapter of 1 Cor. speaks of the church as a body. There Paul reminds us that “the body is not one member, but many” (vs. 14). Each member of the body is to serve a distinct purpose. And all “the members should have the same care one for another” (vs. 25). To do that demands that we pray one for another (Ja. 5:16). That’s something we are commanded to do throughout the new testament.
The needs of a church are many and great, everything depends on prayer. The surest way for a church to fail and fall is for the members to neglect prayer. And there is no excuse for it. Prayer is something every member can do– so there is never a reason for any member to feel unimportant. If you can’t do anything else you can pray and nothing else anyone does is any more important than that. Those who pray don’t get the attention they deserve, and they aren’t looking for it. They love the Lord and His church, and they understand the importance of prayer. I wish every member felt the same. Sadly, prayer is something a lot of people talk about but seldom do. When they do it is usually something personal or a dire need that drives them to their knees. The fact is, we need prayer when all is well as well as when everything is falling apart.
I’ve often said and I firmly believe that the outcome of a service is often determined before the service begins. If we haven’t been praying all week I doubt that the prayers on Sunday will be of much value. Without prayer we can’t expect anything great to happen in the service. To be brutally honest, I suspect that sometimes we preach more about prayer than we pray about preaching. Then we get discouraged because nothing happens. Even a well delivered sermon isn’t enough without prayer. We would all get upset if someone intentionally did harm to the church ( or the church building), but in some ways a lack of prayer can be the most harmful thing a person could do. God forbid that we be guilty of such sin! Are you?– HDS
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346
