Building a House of Prayer: Part 5

Allen Webster

Topic(s): Jesus

Links to this entire series:

• Building A House of Prayer: Part 1
• Building A House of Prayer: Part 2
• Building A House of Prayer: Part 3
• Building A House of Prayer: Part 4
• Building A House of Prayer: Part 5
• Building A House of Prayer: Part 6
• Building A House of Prayer: Part 7
• Building A House of Prayer: Part 8
• Building A House of Prayer: Part 9
• Building A House of Prayer: Part 10

What Happens When the Church of Christ Prays?

One hundred lightning bolts blast the earth every second. These eight million daily surges of power provide more energy than all of the electric generators in the United States combined. Even though three-quarters of the bolt’s energy is used up in heat (the surrounding air heats up to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit), enough energy remains to deliver a full 125 million volts of electricity. Ironically, lightning is much more than what our eyes see. With a lightning bolt traveling at 90,000 miles per second it’s hard to realize what is happening. The bolt gets its start from channels of pulsing electric energy two inches across, going from the ground to the clouds¹. Prayer is the “lightning” of the church. Like the physical phenomenon, largely unseen and little understood, prayer releases tremendous spiritual energy when they start pulsating upward to Heaven. What kind of power can be released in a congregation through the prayers of its members?

Prayer Can Increase Church Finances.

Consider a situation where a congregation’s whole budget is being used in good works, with no money in the bank, but a young man decides he wants to become a preacher. He wants to enroll in a school to receive training and needs to raise his support quickly before classes begin. Could a congregation pray that the contribution of its members might increase enough to support him? Certainly. Suppose a congregation’s elders put together a challenging plan of work that calls for a 25% increase in revenue. Would it be permissible for them, and other faithful Christians, to pray that the contribution increase to match their plans for evangelism, edification, and benevolence? Certainly. Will it work? Paul wrote that God is able to “…multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness” (2 Corinthians 9:10) (notice this is in a context of both giving and prayer, 9:6-14). If God was able to take money away from selfish Jews who built their own houses while His stood in ruins (Haggai 1:11), He certainly has the power to add money to those who are putting His will first. He does, after all, own the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10-12), or to update the language, “the money in a thousand banks.”

How does God do this? A good steward in the congregation may get a raise at work or a businessman may have an unusually profitable year. A rich widow may leave a fortune to the church. The preacher’s sermon may touch one who is not giving enough and motivate him to give more. How did God take the wages of those who were putting them in “a bag with holes” (Haggai. 1)? Perhaps by reducing purchasing power or increasing expenses. He could reverse the process whereby the church’s normal expenses may be less for a few months and thus enjoy an unexpected windfall. Or individual members may come up with unexpected money and have more to give. We do not have to be able to figure it out for God to be able to do it. We may not be able to put a finger on exactly how God keeps His promises, but it is enough to have faith in His power, and let Him take care of the means (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:7).

The little bit of food (in John 6) Jesus handed to the disciples was far short of enough to feed even twelve men. It was nothing more than one little boy’s lunch—the equivalent of two sardines and five soda crackers. Even visionary Andrew asked, “But what are they among so many?” But when God got involved, it was enough. As the song goes, “Little becomes much in the Master’s hand.” Who fed the camp of Israel in the wilderness? He that could make one man chase a thousand (Deuteronomy 32:30; Joshua 23:10) could make one loaf feed a thousand. Ours is a God of abundant providence, who does not give stingily (cf. James 1:5,17). The Lord most fully manifests His power through our weakness and His abundance through our poverty (1 Corinthians 1:26-29; 2 Corinthians 12:9,10). He often uses the small things to greater effectiveness than the things that are thought to be the greatest and most promising.

• God used a baby’s cry to move Pharaoh’s daughter’s heart.
• He used a shepherd’s crook to work miracles in Egypt.
• He used a poverty-stricken widow to sustain Elijah.
• He used a young girl to lead the leprous Naaman to Elisha.
• He used Balaam’s donkey to teach His truth.
• He used a donkey’s jawbone to slay a thousand men.
• He used a little child to teach His disciples humility.

Just as He used one boy’s lunch to feed five thousand people, He may use the spare hours of the businessman in the Sunday School, the brief leisure of mother at home for prayer and meditation, or the scanty time of the student to accomplish a great deal. He can also use a small contribution in the hand of a generous Christian for great good. Did you know that just ten individuals giving five dollars extra a week is almost $2,600 in a year? Skipping one lunch a week could do that!

Prayer Can Help Church Programs.

Paul “did not cease to pray” that the Colossians would be “…fruitful in every good work…” (1:10). He asked the Romans to “…strive together with me in your prayers to God for me…that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints; that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed” (Romans 15:30,31). We should pray for the church’s visitation program, its evangelism efforts, its benevolence program, and its edification endeavors. How is the visitation program of your congregation working? The youth program? The Bible school? Are your Gospel meetings well attended and fruitful? What about your mission efforts? If we want to do the Lord’s work, we should ask the Lord’s blessing. Who doubts, for in-stance, that when a significant number of Christians pray for several weeks for a Gospel meeting, that it will have a better meeting than if no one prayed?

Prayer Can Help Church Attendance.

Something is wrong in a congregation when only half of the Sunday morning crowd comes back to worship God on Sunday nights and to study His Word on Wednesday nights. What can change this percentage? Sermons on church attendance help (God’s people do better when they know better.) Making the classes and services scriptural and meaningful helps. What about prayer? Could prayer play a role in increasing the numbers on the board? If prayer helps individual Christians become stronger in faith and avoid sin (cf. Luke 22:32; cf. John 17:9-11; 2 Thessalonians 3:3), and frequency of church attendance is a sign of spiritual strength and non-attendance is a sin (Hebrews 10:25), then it follows that prayer can help church attendance.

Give prayer a try in these areas and see if the church becomes more “powerful.”

Endnote:

1 Reader’s Digest, Aug. 1987, p. 23-29