Prayer’s Place . . . praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints; and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. (Ephesians 6:18–19 NKJV) Your ability to witness in the world is directly connected to the time you spend in your prayer closet. For some reason, we tend to forget this. We pray for our health, our finances, our future, our friends, and even our food. But what about praying for the ability to be a faithful witness of the gospel in both word and deed? The most powerful and prolific evangelist the world has ever seen had a profound understanding of this. In writing to the church at Ephesus, Paul concludes his epistle by imploring them to pray for him (not just in the general or generic sense) so that he could be faithful in making the gospel known. This powerful apostle understood that he was a witnessing weakling apart from the empowerment of prayer. We see the same principle at work throughout the book of Acts as the first few followers of Christ were constantly praying along with their witnessing. One activity didn’t take place without the other close by its side, and we can be certain that the early church would not have grown as it did apart from the act of prayer. When our attempts to witness aren’t preceded by prayer, our words come off as rash and brash. But with prayer paving the way, our words seem to hit the mark. We find that we’re able to strike the perfect balance of truthfulness and tactfulness, sensitivity and seriousness. May we be wise enough to follow the proven pattern, not only praying for our own witnessing opportunities, but also asking for prayer from others.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 12:21:37 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015