The Importance of Prayer

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” – Acts 2:42

As many of you already know, Courtney and I are currently looking for a church home here in the Atlanta/Marietta/Woodstock area of North Georgia. Surprisingly so, there are many decent options available. The last time I seriously looked for a Calvinist church in our area (a church that holds to what scripture alone teaches regarding how man can be saved), I found only one or two options. Now, about 4 years later, there are no less than half a dozen sound, Calvinistic churches within driving distance of my home, and even more if I'm willing to drive a bit. I believe this is a wonderful testimony for what the Lord is doing in our midst. Nevertheless, even of these half a dozen or so, the largest of the group is no bigger than a couple hundred people. Most fit somewhere in the 50-100 range, though that is certainly to be expected. Pure doctrinal teaching is becoming more wide-spread, but it certainly isn’t popular in what is commonly called the ‘bible-belt’.


Given what the Lord is doing in raising up these godly churches and the ‘variety’ so to speak of the options available, Courtney and I are looking much deeper than just the doctrinal statement alone. We can find many churches in which we agree doctrinally, and so there becomes other points of emphasis that we will be examining closely. One aspect to which we are paying close attention to is the prayer life of the church. Without question, this area often goes unnoticed and overlooked, but I believe scripture is crystal clear in that this area will manifest the true character of any church, and individual person for that matter.

A few observations from the Acts 2 passage above:

• Sound doctrine without sound prayer leads to a cold, rigid, prideful religion.
• Fellowship without prayer leads to a self-centered and unloving social gathering –no different than the fellowship of the world.
• Worship and the Lord’s Supper without prayer becomes nothing more than a mere ritual, completely separated from the true recognition of the Lord’s Supper –our union with Christ and with each other in the new covenant.

Simply put, prayer was an integral part of the 1st century church worship gatherings, so why have so many now days gone astray from that? Not only has our church society neglected prayer in the Lord’s Day service, but even Wednesday night prayer meetings are rare, and a decent attendance at those are even more scarce.

We need to get back to scripture, folks. When we come together, the teaching, preaching, and fellowship are the norm, but public, corporate prayer is certainly not. This is to our great shame. Prayer requests should be voiced whenever the body meets for worship, and members should be given the opportunity to publicly pray if so desired. To do any less is to supress the spirit of the fellowship, and to grieve the Holy Spirit, no doubt. To pretend to have unity and fellowship without a devotion to prayer is simple hypocrisy. If the leaders and the congregation don’t devote themselves to prayer during the worship hour, what makes us think that they do it behind closed doors? As the great Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said:

“There is nothing that tells the truth about us as Christians so much as our prayer life.”

Brothers and Sisters, let us get back to the basics of the Christian faith. I plead with you today to devote yourself to prayer –both in church and out of church. Examine your prayer life -for it will clearly show the content and direction of your heart, as it will of your local church.