Thoughts for Life: #72 Prayer Prepares God's Blessing for Each Service

Dr. Wesley L. Duewel: When many people pray intensely for the same thing, a massive prayer power is built up which will bring outstanding blessing.

This is important for the church services. Whether lay person or minister, you can help make each service a maximum blessing.
(Google image,Group holding hands in prayer .)

1. Amassed prayer is required to fill the building with God's presence. There are times when God's presence is brought so near and into such manifestation, that as people enter they feel a special hush, reverence, or awareness of God's sacred nearness.

This rarely happens except when the leader, some of his godliest people, or both have been spending much time in prayer and fasting.

Sometimes an awareness of God's presence is recognized by people when the leader enters the pulpit or as he begins to speak. This special seal of the Holy Spirit can come only when the leader has been truly living in God's presence.

It can be greatly aided if he has taught his local church leaders to gather early and to spend the time in intercession. Others meet Saturday nights for prevailing prayer. Some have trained their people to arrive before daylight on Sunday morning and spend several hours in prayer for the services.

Abundant prayer fills the atmosphere with the presence of God. This holy sense of God's presence prepares the people to be blessed by God and to obey God.

2. Amassed prayer helps bring the needy to the service. When prayer has prepared the way, neighbors and friends are more likely to accept an invitation to attend services. When prayer has prepared the way, God has brought people who were not invited by others, but who were drawn by the Spirit into the building.

Amassed prayer makes people willing to attend special services. During the revival of the United Prayer meetings in 1850s in the United States, daily noon prayer meetings were held in hundreds of cities. Thousands upon thousands of unsaved people were drawn into the services, and hundreds of thousands were saved in one year.

3. Amassed prayer can anoint the singing. Why do we have congregational singing at the beginning of our public worship? To lead the people into the presence of God and to prepare our hearts for worship.

We sing of His greatness, His holiness, His goodness and power to draw our attention away from earthly things and focus our hearts on God. Singing is primarily "unto the Lord."

Often when prayer has prepared the way of the Lord, the congregational singing has led to awareness that God in His nearness and holiness has come. It is as if God comes close to us as we draw close to him (James 4:8).

4. Prayer can make the public reading of Scripture speak to hearts. How seldom is God's Word read with the anointing of the Spirit! How rarely it is read with the reverence due the very Word of God! The reading of Scripture had a prominent role in the Jewish synagogue and the early church.

When Ezra opened the Scripture to read, the people stood (Neh. 8:5). This same reverence was otherwise reserved for royalty. The opening of Scripture for public reading was the equivalent of God entering the service and being welcomed.

As court attendants stood in the presence of the king, so the people stood in honor of God, for the Word of God represented God Himself.

If the congregation stands while the Scripture is read, it helps keep them alert and attentive as they should be. Probably more time should be given to reading the Word, that is, longer passages should often be read, than is sometimes done in our services.

5. Much prayer needs to prepare the way for the pastoral prayer. It is a sacred responsibility to lead in public prayer. The pastoral prayer has a blessing, teaching, and intercessory function for everyone present. Everyone must realize that you are really in touch with God. Everyone should be helped to revere God, love God, and obey God by the prayer which he Amens (1 Cor. 14:16).

Your pastoral prayer can do more to prepare your people for your message than perhaps any other aspect of the service. Your pastoral prayer can help bring the awareness of God's nearness and heartbeat.

You must not only prepare your heart for your sermon, but you must prepare it for your prayer. You must prepare it with heart hunger, heart humility, and heart purpose. You must carry a daily prayer burden if you would have power with God when you intercede in the pulpit.

You must daily commune in the intimacy of God's secret presence if you are to lead the church in public adoration, worship, and praise.

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Used by permission of the author and Duewel Literature Trust, Inc., Greenwood, Indiana. Creative reading style by Jean.

Ablaze for God
#72 Prayer Prepares God's Blessing for Each Service
by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
(pp. 218- 222) ZondervanPublishingHouse

Man praying with
Bible in hands

Father, it stands to reason that when many people pray intensely for the same thing, a massive power is built up which will bring outstanding blessing.
Impress on us the importance of massive praying in our congregations for the anointing that brings an awareness of Your presence, and for the lost to decide to come to church, as well as various healings to take place among us.
We need to also realize that the anointing of our singing and the reading of Your Word depends upon our massive praying. May it be true that many of us will support the services with times of prayer for Your will to be done.
May our pastors prepare their hearts for their sermons with hunger, heart humility and heart purpose. Help them carry a daily prayer burden for You to anoint them with Your power as they intercede from their pulpits.
We ask this in the mighty name of Jesus for the effectiveness of our churches in our communities, and for Your glory. Amen.

Today's Bible verses-

Prov. 2:6 (KJV) For the LORD giveth wisdom: out

of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding."

Luke 11:9, 10 (KJV) "And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall
be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall
be opened unto you. (10) For every one that asketh receiveth;
and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall
be opened."

Acts 1:8 (NIV) "But you will receive power when the Holy
Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends
of the earth."

Today's quote-

Charles Spurgeon- "Furthermore, the Lord loves the cry of the broken heart because it distinctly recognizes Him as the living God, truly sought after in prayer. From much of outward devotion God is absent. But how we mock God when we do not discern Him as present and do not come near to the Lord himself!

When the heart or the mind or the soul breaks through itself to get to its God, then God is glorified. However, He is not glorified when we merely perform ritualistic exercises and forget about Him." (Taken from p. 133 of Spurgeon on PRAYER & SPIRITUAL WARFARE).

Today's past related post-

#28 Why Pastors Need Intercession

C. Peter Wagner shares more from his book, PRAYER SHIELD, How to intercede for pastors, Christian leaders and others on the spiritual frontlines:

"I am convinced that most church members have little or no appreciation of the cost of being a pastor."

Upcoming posts-

Hand in Hand

21st- Saturday's post by Toni Campbell

#73 Your Prayer Must Saturate Message Preparation

24th- Tuesday's post by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel

#74 Prepared Hearts Prepare Fruitful Messages

26th- Thursday's post by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel

Sky Watcher

28th- Saturday's post by Lee Forbes