Books For Christian - Prayer Power

Publisher: Publisher
ISBN: 0883685671
Pages: 159
Book Type: Paperback
Size: 0.44 x 8.24 x 5.11 inches
Released Date: Dec 1998

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Table Of Contents

Description:
Prayer brings us into vibrant contact with God. In these inspiring pages, you will uncover the prayer secrets of Paul, Jesus, Hudson Taylor, and George Müller. As you come to know that nothing is impossible with our prayer-hearing God, you will see that He is waiting to abundantly answer you with showers of blessings.

Preface 7
1. The Sin of Prayerlessness 15
2. The Fight against Prayerlessness 29
3. How to Be Delivered from Prayerlessness 35
4. The Blessing of Victory 45
5. The Example of Our Lord 57
6. The Holy Spirit and Prayer 65
7. Sin versus the Holiness of God 71
8. Obedience and the Victorious Life 81
9. Hints for the Inner Chamber 95
10. The Example of Paul 103
11. The Word and Prayer 111
12. Follow Me 117
13. George Muller and Hudson Taylor 127
14. The Spirit of the Cross 137
15. Taking Up the Cross 143
16. The Holy Spirit and the Cross 147
Epilogue 157

In order for the conscience to do its work and for the heart to be thoroughly repentant, each individual must mention his sin by name. The confession must be severely personal. With ministers there is probably no single sin that each one of us ought to acknowledge with deeper shame--"Guilty, verily guilty"--than the sin of prayerlessness.

What is it, then, that makes prayerlessness such a great sin? At first it is looked upon merely as a weakness. There is so much talk about lack of time and all sorts of distractions that the deep guilt of the situation is not recognized. Let it be our honest desire that, for the future, the sin of prayerlessness may be to us truly sinful. Consider the following.

There is the holy and most glorious God who invites us to come to Him, to converse with Him, to ask from Him such things as we need, and to experience what a blessing there is in fellowship with Him. He has created us in His own image and has redeemed us by His own Son, so that when we are in prayer with Him, we might find our highest glory and salvation.
What use do we make of this heavenly privilege? How many there are who take only five minutes for prayer! They say that they have no time and that the heart desire for prayer is lacking; they do not know how to spend half an hour with God! It is not that they absolutely do not pray; they pray every day--but they have no joy in prayer, as a token of communion with God that shows that God is everything to them.
If a friend comes to visit them, they have time, they make time, even at the cost of sacrifice, for the sake of enjoying conversation with him. Yes, they have time for everything that really interests them, but no time to practice fellowship with God and delight themselves in Him! They find time for a creature who can be of service to them; but day after day, month after month passes, and there is no time to spend one hour with God.
Do not our hearts begin to acknowledge what a dishonor this is to God, that I dare to say I cannot find time for fellowship with Him? If this sin begins to appear plain to us, will we not with deep shame cry out: "'Woe is me! For I am undone' (Isaiah 6:5), 0 God, be merciful to me and forgive this awful sin of prayerlessness"?

It is a proof that, for the most part, our lives are still under the power of the flesh. Prayer is the pulse of life; by it the doctor can tell what is the condition of the heart. The sin of prayerlessness is a proof for the ordinary Christian or minister that the life of God in the soul is in deadly sickness and weakness.
Much is said and many complaints are made about the feebleness of the church to fulfill her calling, to exercise an influence over her members, to deliver them from the power of the world, and to bring them to a life of holy consecration to God. Much is also spoken about her indifference to the millions of heathen whom Christ entrusted to the church that she might make known to them His love and salvation.
What is the reason that many thousands of Christian workers in the world do not have a greater influence? Nothing except this--the prayerlessness of their service. In the midst of all their zeal in the study and in the work of the church, of all their faithfulness in preaching and conversation with the people, they lack that ceaseless prayer that has attached to it the sure promise of the Spirit and the "power from on high" (Luke 24:49).
Once again, it is nothing but the sin of prayerlessness that is the cause of the lack of powerful spiritual life!

3.The church suffers a dreadful loss as a result of prayerlessness of the minister.

The business of a minister is to train believers to a life of prayer, but how can a leader do this if he himself has little understanding of the art of conversing with God and of receiving from the Holy Spirit, every day, abundant grace for himself and for his work? A minister cannot lead a congregation higher than he is himself. He cannot with enthusiasm point out a way, or explain a work, in which he is not himself walking or living.

Many thousands of Christians know next to nothing of the blessedness of prayer fellowship with God! Many more know something of it and long for a further increase of this knowledge, but in the preaching of the Word they are not persistently urged to keep on until they obtain the blessing! The reason is simply and only that the minister understands so little about the secret of powerful prayer and does not give prayer the place in his service that, in the nature of the case and in the will of God, is indispensably necessary. What a difference we would notice in our congregations if ministers could be brought to see in its right light the sin of prayerlessness and were delivered from it!

4.With prayerlessness evident, it is impossible to preach the Gospel to all men.

To proclaim the Good News to the world--as we are commanded by Christ to do--is an utterly unattainable dream as long as this sin is not overcome and cast out.
Many feel that the great need of missions is the obtaining of men and women who will give themselves to the Lord to strive in prayer for the salvation of souls. It has also been said that God is eager and able to deliver and bless the world He has redeemed, if His people were but willing, if they were but ready, to cry to Him day and night. But how can congregations be brought to that unless there comes first an entire change in ministers, that they begin to see that the indispensable thing is not preaching, not pastoral visitation, not church work, but fellowship with God in prayer until they are clothed with "power from on high" (Luke 24:49)?
Oh, that all thought and work and expectation concerning the kingdom might drive us to the acknowledgment of the sin of prayerlessness! God help us to root it out! God deliver us from it through the blood and power of Christ Jesus! God teach every minister of the Word to see what a glorious place he may occupy if he first of all is delivered from this root of evils; so that with courage and joy, in faith and perseverance, he can go on with his God!
The sin of prayerlessness! May the Lord lay the burden of it so heavy on our hearts that we cannot rest until it is taken far from us through the name and power of Jesus. He will make this possible for us.