How Did Leaders in Scripture Mobilize Prayer?
Posted by: jong in Untagged on
Mar 3, 2010
Recently I did a study of prayer mobilization in the Bible. I
discovered something I thought was interesting: prayer was usually
mobilized by a leader challenging the people.
In the Old Testament we see Nehemiah, Ezra, Jehoshaphat, to name some, who challenged people to seek God and provided a venue for them to do so. Some of you would say, “that isn’t the case in the New Testament.” Perhaps for the first months and a few years in the life of the early church people prayed without a lot of encouragement from leaders. But by the time the epistles were written, we see Paul and James again challenging those under their care to pray. James’s passage in chapter 5 goes through a lengthy encouragement for people to pray more often. Paul asked people to join his missionary endeavors by praying (Romans and 2 Corinthians). He also challenged people to “pray without ceasing,” to pray when they had anxiety, to pray for those in authority. I suspect all these challenges were made because James and Paul saw the people slacking off where prayer was concerned.
How like our people is that?
What’s the answer? As leaders--pastors, elders, small group leaders, prayer leaders—we need to challenge people to pray. Your people will not likely pray a lot without encouragement and challenge from you. More than simply moaning about people not wanting to pray, more than guilting people about their prayerlessness, as leaders, we need to seek the Lord for creative ways to call people in our day to prayer.
In the Old Testament we see Nehemiah, Ezra, Jehoshaphat, to name some, who challenged people to seek God and provided a venue for them to do so. Some of you would say, “that isn’t the case in the New Testament.” Perhaps for the first months and a few years in the life of the early church people prayed without a lot of encouragement from leaders. But by the time the epistles were written, we see Paul and James again challenging those under their care to pray. James’s passage in chapter 5 goes through a lengthy encouragement for people to pray more often. Paul asked people to join his missionary endeavors by praying (Romans and 2 Corinthians). He also challenged people to “pray without ceasing,” to pray when they had anxiety, to pray for those in authority. I suspect all these challenges were made because James and Paul saw the people slacking off where prayer was concerned.
How like our people is that?
What’s the answer? As leaders--pastors, elders, small group leaders, prayer leaders—we need to challenge people to pray. Your people will not likely pray a lot without encouragement and challenge from you. More than simply moaning about people not wanting to pray, more than guilting people about their prayerlessness, as leaders, we need to seek the Lord for creative ways to call people in our day to prayer.
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