Immortal Combat

4. Pray.

“No man stands taller than when he is on his knees.” These words remind me constantly of my responsibility before God, my family, and this church to be a man of prayer. When I wrote the words of William Carey in the bulletin this week, I wasn’t just waxing philosophical. I do believe God will do great things here when we attempt them and expect them! But God will do no more than we ask Him to.

I have spoken often of the need for prayer. I covet your prayers for my family and me as we seek to obey God as a pastor’s family. I make it my business now to pray for each of you by name every day. There are lost people we have begun to pray for in our morning prayer time. I pray for sister churches and their pastors now. We are beginning a minister’s prayer group for the express purpose of praying for Spiritual Awakening in Whitakers. Pray, friend, pray. When you’ve finished praying, pray again.

Stephen Curtis Chapman wrote the theme song for the National Day of Prayer a couple of years ago. The chorus goes something like this:

Let us pray, let us pray

Everywhere and every way,

Every moment of the day is the right time.

For the Father above, He is listening in love

And He wants to answer us, O let us pray.

Be strong. Put on the whole armor of God. Stand firm. Pray. What are these behaviors and requirements? Are they some new way of living? Are they some amazing new strategy of defense for Christians? Do they have some mystical significance? No.

The facts are simple: We are under attack. The war has already been won. We are on the winning side. The enemy is attempting to lessen our margin of victory. We can stop his attacks if we will arm ourselves and meet him head to head. The question is: when will we do it?