“One of the greatest forms of pride is the absence of prayer.” – Pastor Jake Potter
Last night’s message at church was a hard-hitter.
Let me ask you a question…
Are you one of those rare birds who has a bustling prayer life?
….or are you more like the rest of us?
The rest of us? Thought so!
The fact is, many of us have a hard time with the idea of prayer.
At the church I used to attend, we would hold special prayer services the Friday night before a revival or special series of services was about to begin.
There were called “all-night prayer meetings.”
Here was the deal:
- Your family signs up for a time between 7pm-7am.
- You show up at your appointed time and observe the prayer list at the front.
- You pray for one hour, and then you’re done.
This always reminds me of the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane (which, yes, was mentioned during last night’s sermon), where the disciples of Jesus couldn’t even stay awake long enough to keep watch while Jesus prayed for one more hour!
Frankly, I did not fare much better at all-night prayer meetings.
You have to admit… it’s actually pretty hard to remain in a posture and a spirit of prayer for that long. Especially in our fast-paced culture.
“Get to the point already, Steve…”
Well—I’m not really sure there is one.
I do think there may be some practical analogy to preparation for worship, though.
Think about it:
Do you view your participation in the worship experience as a calling, or a duty?
Btw, it’s okay to see it as a duty…as long as you see it as a calling as well 🙂
It’s an area where we can serve. Where we can use the talent’s we’ve been given by God for his glory.
Are you asleep on the job?
I mean, can you give it just 1 hour of practice this week? Do you think you could fit that into your busy schedule?
Let us remember, brothers and sisters, that we do not do what we do to satisfy our fleshly (or even our spiritual) love for music; rather, it is for The Lord.
The spirit of worship requires reverence, preparation, and commitment.
We all—myself included—could use a heavier dose of those things. And a shot in the arm of prayer would help too.
While we don’t have the magic antidote for staying awake during prayer meeting, we do have the exact method you need to cut rehearsal time in half, make it fun and exciting to play new music, and become a more productive member of your worship team.
You can sign up FREE today at www.WorshipByNumbers.com
Steve Schramm
P.S. Maybe we’ll work on Prayer By Numbers next. For now, one thing at a time: www.WorshipByNumbers.com