The Importance of Prayer in Ministry

“The pride of learning is against the dependent humility of prayer... Every [Christian] who does not make prayer a mighty factor in his own life and ministry is weak as a factor in God’s work and is powerless to project God’s cause in this world.”

Men of Prayer Needed, E.M. Bounds

I will never forget one specific evening at a youth meeting. We had invited another youth group to come and minister to ours. I remember not being very impressed with the worship they had just led us through. Their band was sloppy and I really didn’t get the impression that anyone of them was doing anything other than trying to impress us. There seemed to be no desire to truly enter into God's presence at all.

A young man stood up to minister the word to us, but because of the quality of their worship team, my expectations were low and I sat back, ready to pass the time by preparing my own sermon based on the scripture he was about to share.

The young man opened the Bible, and started reading a scripture. As he began to speak my insides felt as if they were jumping up inside of me and the tears welled up in my eyes as the Spirit of God ministered with more power than what I had ever felt, at any time, from someone simply reading a scripture.

I do not remember the scripture. I cannot even remember if he preached after that. But I will never forget the impact that there was from the annointing with which that young man read that scripture.

I have no doubt that, that young man had spent time, serious time, hours, maybe days, before a Living God with whom he had a very close relationship. I believe he had waited until God had burnt that scripture into his spirit so that when he opened his mouth and spoke, the power that came with it was not the power of reading a scripture. It was like compressed annointing that had been shut up within him, which was suddenly released. His lips had truly been touched by the coal from the altar.

May I encourage you to not underestimate the power with which God is busy endowing you, when you spend time in His Presence, in preparation for ministry.

Love

Ashton