The Ministry of Prayer Acts 6:4 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

We see that the great work of the ministry requires the ministry of PRAYER – if we’re going to minister the word we’re going to have to pray – this is one work we can all do no matter who we are, how much we know, or how long we have been saved – there is little rhyme that encourages us, “Satan trembles when he sees, the weakest saint upon his knees.”  In the ministry of prayer we should:

Pray for the lost to be saved – Rom 10:1 – Paul clearly prayed for the lost of Israel – it is uncanny to see the supernatural things God does to bring the lost to Christ – never grow weary of praying for the lost.

Pray for us to know God’s will – Col 1:9 – pray that we would be wise to know that witnessing is God’s will and that we would be wise to know how to fulfill his will in our lives in this church – what is the next step after the thorough sowing of the word of God in Fishers of Men.

Pray for laborers – Matt 9:37-38 – pray for those who would minister the word of God from among us – a man promised Martin Luther that he would pray for him every day and he did – one night he had a dream of a man reaping alone in a huge corn field and as he discerned the face of the lone reaper, he saw that it was Luther – then man concluded that he must not only pray for him but join him in the work – prayer is such a vital component of evangelism, but not  only does it aid in getting more workers more fruitfully involved, it also strengthens your resolve to join the effort.

Pray for open doors – Col 4:2-3 – pray that God would give us open doors with people that we don’t already know so well – a young man was called to the field – he told his friend that he didn’t think he would make much of a missionary because he was not much of a preacher – the friend told him that God needed men who could pray – so, he wrestled with God in prevailing prayer and routinely men would knock on his door to be saved – this is a strange twist to “door knocking.”

Pray for boldness – Eph 6:18-20 – each of us needs to be a little bolder than we are right now in order to preach the gospel – I was so nervous about preaching and approaching people at first that I used to pass out tracts in covert ways to keep from having to hand tracts to people personally – with prayer our boldness increases appropriately.

Pray for the word of God to have free course – 2 Thes 3:1 – A Georgia evangelist tells of a pastor who had gone at night when the people were sleeping and prayed before every home in his town where there was an unsaved one – when the revival came it swept his town like a prairie fire.  We’ve been sowing the seed of the word of God – and prayer will work on this seed and on the hearts of those in whom it has been sown.

Pray for God to fulfill his pleasure – 2 Thes 1:11 – pray that the Lord can accomplish in this church exactly what he intends for us to do – and that when we finish our race we will know that we finished OUR course and that God is pleased.

Conclusion: You and I will need to give priority to prayer daily, consistently, earnestly, and diligently – we may need to cut something out of our schedules to make more time for prayer.