We are a prayer-powered church and we have a prayer team of 40+ people who are faithful to the task of praying for the needs of the people. We are most encouraged by answered prayer! But when those answers seem to take a long time to come; here are some facts that we embrace in order to keep our faith strong.

Share these with you praying team and be encouraged. You might text them a quote a day, a quote a week, or a quote and a song! Whatever you do, sit with, and soak in, the truth of these statements.

"To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing."

—Martin Luther

"We pray when there's nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all." —Oswald Chambers

"We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties." —Oswald Chambers

"Pray the largest prayers. You cannot think a prayer so large that God, in answering it, will not wish you had made it larger. Pray not for crutches but...

This is the 3rd and final post in my series on "Why the Church Needs to Pray" be sure to scroll back and read the other 2 posts. In this article I want to introduce you to 3 Praying People Whose Lives are Living Proof of what happens when prayer is priority.

E.M. Bounds (1835-1913)

Edward McKendree Bounds died in 1913 and yet he has a facebook page and website today. I wonder if he knows that. E.M. Bounds lived his life from 1835-1913, serving in the ministry during the tumultuous years leading up to, during, and after the Civil War. He was a chaplain for the confederate army and even served time in prison (in Nashville, TN!). Fortunately for us, he spent much of his time writing. His books on prayer are CLASSICS because their words continue to bear fruit for the kingdom today. 

E.M. Bounds on the priority of prayer: 

"What the Church needs to-day is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use men of...

Dave Butts, the former leader of Harvest Prayer Ministries began his article titled "Prayer Power in the Church" with this quote by S.D. Gordon, 

“The great people of the earth today are the people who pray!  I do not mean those who talk about prayer; nor those who say they believe in prayer; nor those who explain prayer; but I mean those who actually take the time to pray. They have not time. It must be taken from something else. That something else is important, very important and pressing, but still, less important and pressing than prayer. There are people who put prayer first, and group the other items in life’s schedule around and after prayer. These are the people today who are doing the most for God in winning souls, in solving problems, in awakening churches, in supplying both men and money for mission posts, in keeping fresh and strong their lives far off in sacrificial service on the foreign field, where the thickest fighting is going...

I'm starting a mini-series of blog posts on the importance of prayer in the church. And I'm going to begin with the argument that the activity of prayer ought to take priority over all of other activities in the local church.

Wait, what? 

You mean prayer ought to take priority over Bible study? 

Yep.

It's more important than fellowship? 

Yep.

...preaching? 

Yep.

...evangelism?

Yes.

If I were to do a survey of how many churches make a priority of prayer, I would most likely be disappointed. When compared to the priority of children's and youth activities, nurturing relationships with each other, women's ministries, men's ministries, and weekend gatherings, the presence of corporate prayer experiences on the church's calendar would lag far behind.

Barna discovered that the culture we live in today has impacted the way we approach prayer in the church, this is what he has to report: 

"The forces of our individualistic culture...

I love that we've begun a new thing that has become a church-wide trend. Many of our churches ring in the new year with an emphasis on prayer that includes a 21-Day fast.

I'm writing this post on Day 2 of our 21 days and am feeling the physical  and spiritual effects of this fast already! Every year we challenge our congregation to join us in a fast. We provide resources to help them know what fasting is all about, and we create a daily devotional guide to accompany them along the way.

In order to hold each other accountable, we ask participants to sign-up by giving us their email address. These emails go right into an online group where we can send the group emails of encouragement along the way. And, because we want our people fasting and praying MORE than just for 21 days in January, we use these 3 weeks as a time to recruit them to become a part of our ongoing prayer and fasting team. I share with you what that team does in this blog post, What is a Prayer and...

Every church knows that prayer is important but these churches have prayer ministries that work. And I'm not just saying they work! I'm saying they are structured in such a way that there is a time, place and plan for people in the congregation to participate in their prayer ministries. 

Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama

  On the Church of the Highlands website you will learn that they are "here to help people know God, find freedom, discover their purpose, and make a difference." When you click on their "about" page, there are several ministries listed from left to right on the page. The first option of ministries is prayer.

  Don't you love that? This is a congregation with their priorities in order! When you click on the video of Colette Green, their prayer pastor, she shares that prayer is foundational to the life of the Church. Then she tells you how their prayer ministry functions and how you can be involved. 

  I LOVE IT! 

...

Hello my friends! 

I want to take a minute to tell you about the trip I took this month to visit with Teresa and Toni at Indian Rocks Baptist Church in Largo, Florida. 

About a year ago, Teresa called to learn more about the Prayer Clinic ministry. We became fast friends when we recognized the kindred spirit we share as prayer leaders in our churches. Teresa started teaching the 4-session course, Teach My Heart to Pray to those who expressed interest in learning more about prayer, and the Prayer Clinic ministry at IRBC. By December, she was teaching their deacons the prayer study, and in January she, and her solid Prayer Clinic team, launched the Prayer Clinic ministry in 3 locations during all 3 weekend services on their massive campus.

The Prayer Clinic team is in the greeting area where the pastor meets people after services; they are available at the altar where people can come for prayer in response to the message; and they staff their prayer room where they...

 I've written 19 books, and most of them are on the subject of prayer. I could write a book a week between now and the day I die and I'd never exhaust the subject, nor would I reveal the entire mystery of prayer. (That's not going to stop me from trying, though!) 

But perhaps the most useful tool I've had the opportunity to create is this 4-session study called, Teach My Heart to Pray. If you haven't already done so, take a minute to watch the attached video.

Teach My Heart to Pray is designed to teach anyone and everyone what prayer is; how prayer works; what answers you can expect to your prayers; what barriers there are to our prayers' answers; and how to pray through to a break through. The study is designed to be taught in a Sunday morning, Sunday evening or Wednesday night church setting. It could also be used in home groups.

The material can be taught by me (on video) with a facilitator who is good at turning the video on and off, and leading discussion. Or, it can...

It's back to school time and if you're like me, you are eager to get those precious little people scrubbed clean and loaded up with new school supplies, hugged and kissed, and out the door, and off to school. The return to a "normal routine" is welcome this time of the year.

But as you send your people back to school, you do so with a bit of sadness over the fact that they are another year older, there are less marbles in your jar (have you seen the marble and parenting illustration?), and other people are about to be pouring into the minds and lives of your cherished offspring.

Unless you're homeschooling. If you're homeschooling you are giving yourself pep talks as you gear up for another year of pouring out and in to the children who call you "Mom" and/or "Dad." 

I've written on this topic before and decided today to simply give you links to the blogs and podcasts that provide you encouragement as you commit to pray your students through this upcoming year in school.

When Willie McLaurin (interim president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee and interim pastor at First Family Church just south of us in Columbia, TN) got to this point in his message at the Southern Baptist Convention in Anaheim, CA, I wanted to jump up and SHOUT! 

If prayer is not our main business, we will be out of business! 

I thought about all the "business" we'd been doing at that Convention. Most of the business I observed was managed by a parliamentarian (like, WOW! That guy did a great job!). And moderated by a president, Ed Litton(husband of my friend, Kathy Litton, and president of the SBC this past year--who did a remarkable job moderating this 2-day, thousands-of-people-in-attendance, old-fashioned church business meeting.).

And I wondered what might have happened in Anaheim if we'd fallen to our knees in prayer together. What might've happened if, after the vote on the Sexual Abuse Task Force recommendation (which passed...