Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Playing by the Rules”
Our Bible verse for today: “As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you.” 1 Samuel 12:23 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “God’s people are to be praying people.
The story is told of a church which, when they heard that a bar was going to be opened in their neighborhood, the people of the church organized a protest movement and petitioned the city council to deny the business permit. After a lot of heated debate the city issued the permit anyway and the bar opened.
The people of the church then shifted tactics and began praying that nobody would patronize the bar and that it would go out of business. And sure enough, that is what happened. For some reason, no matter how he advertized or what kind of specials he ran, the bar owner was not able to attract very many customers and he quickly went out of business.
Enraged, and convinced that it was the fault of the church, the bar owner sued. In court he made the case that it was because of the prayers of the church that his business failed. The people of the church however, afraid that they might lose the case and suffer a financial judgment against them, insisted that their prayers had nothing to do with it. After considering the claims of both sides the judge observed, “It seems to me that the bar owner believes in the power of prayer but the church people don’t”. Wow. May that never be said about you or me!
Let me ask you, “Do you understand how prayer works?” Well that’s ok, neither do I. All I do know, from Scripture, from history, and from personal experience, is that when God’s people pray, things happen. For reasons all His own God has decided that He would work here on earth in concert with the prayers of His people.
That being the case, since prayer is so important, it’s one of the rules God imposes upon His people – we are to pray. Examples of the prayers of God’s people are woven all throughout the Bible. Jesus Himself prayed and He taught us how to pray. The Apostle Paul told us to pray constantly and in all things. Samuel told the people of his day that he would have been guilty of sinning against God if he did not pray for them.
Our church, Oak Hill Baptist, has a reputation as being a praying church. In our prayer meetings we write prayer letters, many times to people we don’t even know but who have come to our attention by means of a prayer request. We have prayer for that person and then everyone in the meeting signs the letter, just letting the person know that we had special prayer for them. We then mail it to the person. I can’t count the number of times a recipient of one of those letters responded just to tell us how touched they were by the thoughtfulness of the letter. Recently one of our members gave this testimony, “It’s so comforting to know that this is a praying church and that when you say you will pray, you really do.”
I want to encourage you today to pray. Pray a lot. Pray about all things. And when you say you’re going to pray, actually pray. Things can happen in other people’s lives as a result of your prayers for them. That makes prayer both a gift and a privilege. It’s also a responsibility. Since God enables us to pray, since He listens to our prayers, since He answers our prayers, and since He has chosen to work in conjunction with our prayers, He expects us to pray.
Praying is one of the rules in God’s kingdom.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 