Worship. A way of life. That is the undercurrent of this ministry we share. Our living. It either validates or invalidates our Sunday morning praises. Actually, it does both depending on which moment is in question.
Prayer. An act of worship. Though that may not be the definition of what prayer is, it certainly is an act of worship. Accordingly, it is an integral part of the ministry that we share. We pray to begin rehearsal, we pray before we depart. Sometimes we pray in the middle of rehearsal. But are we praying as the scripture teaches us, “without ceasing”? [I Thessalonians 5:17] Is prayer a way of life? Are we experiencing a constant communion with our Lord?
The Lord placed a burden for prayer on my heart early this year. As a result I intensified my pastoral prayer. Many of you have responded to my inquiries and have given me an item or area to agree with you in prayer. That is always the way I have discussed it, agreeing. By saying that I am implying that you are already praying about that need, and that I am desiring to join you in that earnest plea. I believe you are praying for the things that you have asked me to pray for. Some of you have been praying for these things for years. I am about to ask you to agree with me in prayer as well.
Don’t stop reading because you are intimidated by this. I am not asking for the commitment yet. I simply want you to know what I see the Lord developing and at least part of the timeline for all this.
This is a long-term commitment, but it has been a long-term development as well. Shortly after I arrived in Morgantown I began to ponder who would serve as prayer partners and how that would function. I prayed and waited, waited and prayed. It seemed so long in coming when in my previous pastorates I developed some sort of prayer circle around me fairly quickly. I thought coming “home” would make that even quicker. The Lord had different plans.
I formulated a list of people, and before I felt lead to ask them, the list began to change. Things changed in my relationships with people, people changed, I changed. Then as we entered the fall, Pastor David began to talk about his current sermon series with me. Not only did I begin to get excited because of the content of the series, but God began to show me that His time was unfolding for the prayer ministry he had placed on my heart throughout my pastoral ministry.
Though I have been praying about it for a couple of years, today I sent out a plea to a group of men who I have asked to serve in a core group called the Inner Circle. Without going into the details of the commitment I have asked them to make, know that I will be calling on them to pray over a prayer card for me, my family, and this ministry daily.
Beyond this core group, I desire to enlist the labors of a larger team. I desire this for two reasons: 1) More people praying will change more people [at least all those involved] and 2) It spends the joy of the victories won across broader group. It is this group that will be open to all interested in partnering with us in prayer for the worship life of our entire church.
I will give you more details in the weeks ahead, but I wanted to alert you to this developing prayer ministry opportunity. Pastor David has encouraged us to be working on drafting a solemn covenant. I pray you would begin to consider including on-going prayer for you own life of worship and the worship life of our entire church somehow, somewhere in that covenant. Or at least understand that praying for this ministry we share will be a part of your involvement in it as you trust the Lord to transform you through it.
I pray that through this journey we will all become more like Jesus and that part of that change would be to have a better understanding of prayer. Oswald Chambers describes prayer like this.
Prayer does not equip us for the greater works-prayer is the greater work….When you labor at prayer, from God’s perspective there are always results. (My Utmost for His Highest, October 17, “The Key of the Greater Work”)
May God heighten our sense of anticipated results as we being to draw closer to Him in prayer.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott
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