Essays on Prayer - No 17 - by Robert Dean Steel
In this essay I will be writing about how to pray for the church and what I call the dis-infranchised. I will explain what that means in a moment. The church of Jesus Christ is a powerful entity that needs to be awaken to its potential. This prayer essay I hope helps to make that happen.
The church of Jesus Christ is the most power organization on the planet. It has all of heaven backing it. It has the power to change and reform society but how does that begin. In a previous essay I talked about how certain things need to be covered in prayer. Some of the things that will be share here are a summary but new information will also be given as well.
When you pray for the church or your church. Pray that God will create a hunger, thirst and desperation in all of us. "They that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled." When people are desperate they will do anything to make it happen. When you are dis-satisfied with where you are and what you are doing then you are in a great place for God to change things for the better.
Next pray 2 Chron 7:14, Pray, that the church would humble itself. Humility is a core element for change. Pride exalts itself but humility exalts the Lord and others. Pray that your fellow Christians will see the need for prayer. Nothing happens without prayer. Prayer is the fuel for change and revival. When God's people pray the enemy gets fearful. They know that a praying church is an unstoppable force. Next, the church must seek His face. To many times we have chased after the wrong things. When you choose to look into the face of someone you see their full expression. You cannot miss what they want or are saying. You know exactly what they are thinking. When we seek the face of God we are seeking for His mind, will and direction for our lives and world in general. You know that salvation, deliverance and healing are top priorities for God. You become keenly aware that He is about eternal and abundant life. Lastly, pray that the church turns from our wicked ways. Most of us would never admit that we deliberately sin or we intentionally sin. Yet everyday in our words, thoughts, actions, attitudes and motives that is what we do. Most of us do not carefully watch our lives. We often speak without thinking, react without considering the consequences and do things before we have thought things through. Many of us do not even consider many of the things we do as sin. We have drop the standards to the point where things that were taboo 20 years ago have become acceptable. When the church looks at sin as sin eventually the world will as well. We set the standard not the world. In many cases the church looks more like the world instead of the church. We are having debates about things that should never be debated. We have taken love and grace and made them so greasy that we never want to offend any one. I have news for you the gospel is offensive. It confronts people about their sin. Jesus died so that mankind could be forgiven of their sin not excused. Jesus loved the sincere seeker but He confronted the self righteous hypocrite who refused to see their sin as sin. People who come in our midst and try to make us accept their lifestyle choices or orientation are not turning from their sin they are trying to make us think it is acceptable because we are called to love. Love does not condone sin, it confronts bad behavior, addictions, lifestyle choices and orientation because eventually it can kill them and those around them. It is time that instead of coming out of the closet people need to clean it.
When you pray for the church. pray for the pastors that they would be men of the word, prayer, Spirit and integrity. When you pray for church boards, pray that they would follow the guidelines as presented in 1 Timothy and Titus.
Pray for unity, power, anointing, authority, wisdom, clarity and boldness would be prevalent in the church. Pray that the churches would be able to work together as a unified group to reach their communities for God. David said, "How good and pleasant it is for brethen to dwell together in unity." Your prayers can make that happen. Your community is waiting for a revival. It can happen when you pray.
Next, I want to expose a very large problem facing the church today, I call them the dis-infranchised. They are people who called themselves Christians but never darkened the door of the church. They stay home on Sunday mornings and watch television evangelists. They are quick to criticize the church and blame it for their many problems.
There is also a growing group of people who have been hurt and have never recovered from their hurt. Here is a reality, pastors, church boards and church organizations in general are made up of people. They say, do and react like people. Salvation is not a cure all for bad behavior. All of us are growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have never met a pastor yet who would knowingly hurt any one but it happens. Any one I have met would go the second and third mile to repair a relationship. Pastor's heart break when a person gets hurt.
I met woman recently who was working in a church kitchen. She was working for a Christian school program. We talk for a moment and then I asked her what church she went too. She replied, "Oh I don't go to church, the one I went too hurt me ten years ago and I don't go any more." My heart broke. Myself and a fellowship pastor reminded her that not all churches hurt and that there were great churches and pastors who would be more than willing to restore her. Her react was, "Oh its too late." Here was a woman who could not get past an offense and had been carrying unforgiveness for ten years and could not see her way past it.
The people dropping out of churches is almost an epidemic now. It is not just happening to the fringe, it is now happening to core people. People you would never think it would happen too. So the question is how do you pray?
Pray that God would open their eyes and see how the enemy has been able to exploit that hurt. Next, pray that God would put in their life people who are patient. It will take time to win them and see that not all people in the church are hurtful. Pray that God really puts a desire for change and a hunger for Himself in them. That their eyes would be opened to the unforgiveness in their heart. Weep, fast, pray for them. Stand in the gap and bind the enemies attacks in their lives. Bring them by name before the Lord. Stay with this until you see a break through. Whenever you have a chance phone them or go see them and create a friendship with them. In time God may use you an instrument for healing. Be patient and wise. I know this one man that whenever we talk he brings up something that happened to him over 20 years before. I have been patient and because of this he has come to church from time to time. He has still not gotten over the unforgiveness and pain but God is working. Remember these people were at one time pillars in the church and they can be again.
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