Praying Church???

Mark 11:16-18, "And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. 17 Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ 18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching." (NJKV)

A few years ago I knew a fellow Minister who would often make this statement as he was sharing the message from the Word of God; "If I just had a praying church." I always assumed that he was looking for a church that had been praying as well as looking for a church that was praying as he was delivering the Word of God. Those words "If I just had a praying church" resonated in my spirit as I concluded my time of prayer this morning. Are there any others who recognize the need for us to once again become a praying church? These desperate times are calling for the church to take desperate measures and I believe one of those measures is the resumption and re-dedication of our prayer lives.

It seems that the church has become comfortable operating in the power of the flesh rather than in the power of the Spirit. I receive "spiritual advertisements" desiring to sell me the latest "operational systems" that are going to place our local church into the proper mode and method of operation. Let me make it crystal clear; I truly desire for any church that I am serving or ever will serve to be in the right mode of operation. But I am concerned because I never see "Intercessory Prayer" advertised as one of the "systems" that are being offered as a solution to the problems that I am facing as a Pastor. Oh, if we just were a praying church, what could happen? I desire to be a part of a praying church that truly recognizes that only God is the answer for all that we need both now and in the future.

The term "praying church" almost sounds bizarre and I realize that the terminology may be outdated. But it does not matter how you may describe it or define it; we are in desperate need for the words of Jesus to be declared once more in our houses of worship; "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations." I am determined to let that desire be lived out in my individual life and I am determined to encourage our local congregation to be a "house of prayer."

FYI: Thursday, May 7th is National Day of Prayer. The theme verse for this day of prayer is 1 Kings 8:28, "Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today:" (NKJV)