The second phase to building any house is putting up the exterior and interior walls. These serve to divide the structure as to function (e.g., kitchen, bath, bedroom) and protect its occupants from outside dangers. In building a house (church) of prayer, we need to divide prayer into its various sections and see how it protects us from danger. What has God obligated Himself to do when we pray?

God Sends Workers In Answer to Prayer.

Are there too few workers in your congregation? Pray about it. The Master said, “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send¹ forth labourers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37,38). The word Jesus used here for prayer (deomai) means, “to beg,” and suggests the fervency we should use in prayer (cf. Luke 22:44; Colossians 4:12). If a church feels its preacher or elders are not evangelistic enough, would it not be more profitable to the kingdom to pray for them rather than criticize or castigate them? If we want to start a petition around, let’s make it a prayer list. The Lord may very well put them to work! If that doesn’t work, He may send someone else to do it. There could be a preacher change in the works, or perhaps just a dedicated Christian may move to the area and place membership. Of course, this verse has in mind more than just a local area—when we pray for laborers, God may put them to work in another part of the world. He certainly knows best where the harvest is most needed. The main thing is for us to pray for workers.

God Opens Doors for Evangelism In Answer to Prayer.

Ask any preacher what he considers the hardest part of evangelism. He will likely say, “Finding prospects.” This may be his fault for being too busy with others things to “beat the bushes,” or it may stem from the brethren moving him about the time he gets to know the people in the community. What is the answer? Ask God to give him (or you) some studies! Paul wrote, “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ…” (Colossians 4:2,3; cf. Romans 10:1). Jesus described Himself to the Philadelphia church of Christ as: “…he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name” (Revelation 3:7,8).²

In Paul’s missionary report to his sponsoring congregation at Antioch, he “…rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27). In Troas, Paul found “…a door was opened unto me of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 2:12; cf. 1 Corinthians 16:9). In these passages, the term door is used metaphorically for an entrance to any business, occasion, or opportunity of doing any thing; and consequently, “a door of utterance” is an opportunity of preaching the Gospel successfully³. We should pray in general that “…the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified…” (2 Thessalonians 3:1) and more specifically for success in our local area.

Consider God’s vantage point in heaven as He watches what happens on earth. He sees a sinner with a good heart who would become a Christian if he knew what to do. He sees a Christian in the same town on his knees asking for an opportunity to teach someone what to do to be saved. Do you think God can “arrange a meeting?” He did with Candace’s treasurer and Philip (Acts 8). He did with a local preacher named Ananias and a well-known lawyer named Saul (Acts 9). He did with a preacher on a rooftop and a soldier in a port city (Acts 10)⁴. He did with a pleading Macedonian and a wandering (wondering) missionary (Acts 16). He won’t give us a midnight vision or an audible command (1 Corinthians 13:8-10), but He doesn’t have to. He can set the stage be-hind the scenes.

We can also pray for success in specific studies. We can pray that the Lord will “open the heart” of those we are teaching (Acts 16:14) and that we’ll have wisdom to say the right things not to hinder the Truth’s persuasion of this sinner. If we know of others who are teaching the lost, we should also remember to pray for them. We should let one another know when to be praying and for whom.

God Grants Peace and Deliverance In Answer to Prayer.

Paul wrote, “Finally, brethren, pray for us…that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith” (2 Thessalonians 3:2). This inner trust in the power of prayer to deliver is also seen in the Book of Hebrews: “Pray for us… that I may be restored to you the sooner” (13:18,19). Paul asked the Romans to “…strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea…” (15:30). Peter was delivered from prison by the prayers of those in John Mark’s mother’s house (Acts 12), and Paul was delivered out of the “mouth of the lion” (2 Timothy 4:17)⁵. Jesus instructs us, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36). The immediate context deals with the destruction of Jerusalem and Christians escaping Titus’s army, but the principle applies to God’s people today. We can avoid some persecution in answer to prayer (though not all, of course, Matthew 5:10-12; 2 Timothy 3:12).

“Ere you left your room this morning, did you think to pray?”

Endnotes:

1 The word for send here (ekballo) is interesting—almost humorous. It means, “to eject, expel.” The picture is that God will furiously drive out a worker when we pray for the harvest to be reaped.

2 Matthew Henry’s comments on this verse are good: “He opens a door of opportunity to his churches; he opens a door of utterance to his ministers; he opens a door of entrance, opens the heart. He shuts the door of heaven against the foolish, who sleep away their day of grace; and against the workers of iniquity, how vain and confident soever they may be.”

3 Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

4 It is interesting to note that Peter was praying on the rooftop when the men arrived.

5 Prayer is not mentioned in the immediate context, but knowing Paul as we do, we know he prayed. He is, after all, the author of 1 Thessalonians 5:17.