The Discipline Of Prayer Is The Hardest

by Dane Massey

   (Dane Massey is the former Pastor of Mulvane Christian Church. He is now in ministry in Houston, Texas.)  

   Spent this week thinking on fervent, earnest, effectual, prevailing, passionate prayer.  It has taken God forty-some years, three godly women who are now with Him, and adversities without number to develop in me a disciplined prayer life. 

   Genuine prayer, that was consistent and effectual, was and is, by far, the most difficult of the Christian disciplines to develop.  It’s easy to get stirred up when times are difficult, needs are desperate, and the enemies are numerous but sustaining this fervency day to day is the challenge.  Yet prevailing prayer is the common denominator found before and in every work of God throughout history. 

   From the upper room at Pentecost, throughout the book of Acts, to the Moravians, the Awakenings in North America, Wesley’s stirring of the British Kingdom, the Wales Revivals, the shaking of the Hebrides, China with Hudson Taylor, from the Hills of India, to the slums of England with William and Catherine Booth, to the Orphanages of George Muller in Bristol, all of these and thousands of others were founded and sustained by fervent prevailing prayer. 

   As we watch a nation slide into moral confusion and depravity, churches struggling in powerless apathy, individuals in bondage, discouraged and defeated, homes shattered and broken, all of this after great effort, social reform and programming, with billions of dollars spent, surely we see the need for sustained, fervent, earnest, and prevailing prayer. 

   Yet the normal prayer meeting is still some fellowship, a couple of hymns, 30-minute Bible study, take prayer requests, one individual (two at best) stand and pray and we are on our way home. 

   You call that a prayer meeting?

    Prayer is the ultimate and only declaration of God’s people of their desperate need of Him.  Prayerlessness is the obvious declaration of either our arrogance or our defeat.

   The old Chinese Pastor was right, “The most impressive thing about Americas Christianity is how much they do without God.” Yet we are witnessing the emptiness and fruitlessness of all of these efforts.

    So how does one maintain the fires of prayer?  Prayer is an incredible challenge for it seems to be primarily a learn as you go process. 

   You can read biblical passages on prayer, all the biographies of great men and women of prayer, the classics on prayer, try all the new novel ways to pray, but sooner or later you have to pray and then pray again and some more. 

   My prayer time has moved from a quick five minutes off and on, to daily, meaningful times of one to two hours.  The early mornings are now filled with prayer for people, (some I’ve prayed for 20 years or more), ministries, families, marriages, the battles never cease. 

   Yet I am convinced that if I could pull back the veil and see how close those I love live to disaster and destruction, if I could see the eternal consequences of decisions, if I could hear the Father’s Heart more plainly, if I could see the Savior’s suffering more clearly, I would pray with much more intensity, put away many distractions, and lay hold of His grace and mercy with a far greater sense of desperation.  How to do it is the question!

    The disciples knew this is the question.  They watched Jesus’ powerful ministry, His miracles, His profound teaching with bold authority yet they never ask, “Teach us to preach?”, or “Teach us to perform miracles?”  They do however as Him to “teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). 

   They obviously knew that behind all He did was this sustaining prayer life.  Jesus responds  (Luke 11:1-13) with a very simple prayer that is commonly referred to as the Lord’s Prayer.  Then He follows that with a story illustrating the need of persistent, prevailing, and even “holy audacity” in prayer followed by a simple process:  ask, seek, knock. 

   This process has built into it a progression in earnestness, action and persistence.  He then takes us back to the Father where He started.  (vs. 2 and 11-13). 

    If you and I are to prevail in prayer, especially through the difficult seasons, we must be anchored in our knowledge and faith in the Father’s Love, Faithfulness and Power! 

   Jesus finished His teaching, (in response to the request, “teach us to pray”), with a reference to the Father gifting us the Holy Spirit. 

   Why?  Is this an afterthought?  No! This is the pinnacle of it all!  The most needed element, far above all the other things that burden us in prayer.  The Holy Spirit is our Sustainer in prayer, our Inspirer in prayer, our Leader, our Comforter, our Interceder, our Teacher in the school of prayer.