The Purge of Prayer Meetings
“And said unto them, ‘It is written, ‘My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.’ ’” Matthew 21:13 (KJV, emphasis added)
Question: When was the last time that you heard someone enthusiastically endorse attending prayer meeting? In my B.C. (before Christ) days, my position on prayer meeting was fixed in foolishness and imbued with ignorance. With the mental prowess of a young man void of knowledge and discretion, I declared that prayer meetings are attended by those with gray hair, mostly women and those collecting social security. Such a statement screams that I had been struck with the stupid stick several times.
“Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish [stupid].” Proverbs 12:1 (KJV, emphasis added)
In that season of my life, I could not receive instruction. And I would venture to say that I was joined by numerous individuals influenced by juvenile judgment. Adolescent processing is often problematic because it traps one into thinking that they are the sole source of all knowledge and thereby to be corrected is an untenable position.
Now at this juncture of our discussion, one may be thinking how is this connected to churches not praying? Believe it or not, there is a connection between this mindset and the purging of prayer. I propose that the purging of prayer in churches points to a juvenile orientation. One of the many reasons that churches are not resolute to pray is because they are selfish and ignorant of our desperate dependence on God. In addition, like arrogant adolescents we feel that evening hours or other times when prayer meetings are usually scheduled has been replaced with “me time.”
Vance Havner, one of the best-loved and renowned revivalists of the twentieth century said that “the thermometer of a church is its prayer meeting.” Unfortunately, in our contemporary context, the church’s prayer thermometer reflects a fever of the flesh because the flesh feeds on entertainment and leisure over prayer. Also, like prideful juveniles we do not want to share and reveal our need to others. This is due to being carried away by the concerns about how others perceive us when we pray.
Remember the Word of God emphatically echoes our Lord’s nomenclature for His sacred assembly: “My house shall be called a house of prayer.” Notice what the Lord said a “house of prayer”, not commerce, theatre, community center, or even emergency room or triage, but again, a “house of prayer”.
Before the ascension of the Lord Almighty, He gave his followers an assignment to wait for the baptism and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. But they also made it a priority and a commitment to pray.
“And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.” Acts 1:13-14 (KJV, emphasis added)
I have always believed that prayer is akin to oxygen. Oxygen enjoys an essential role in respiration. We humans, along with many other living creatures, need oxygen in the air we breathe to stay alive. When a church does not prioritize prayer, we produce dying churches.
It is my prayer that we purpose to prioritize attending prayer meeting. This will make the church powerfully pervasive in a polluted and powerless world. When God’s house exercises its ordained capacity to call on God, the doors of the power of heaven, divine intervention and the healing and saving of souls will be prevalent. When the church does not pray there will be no power that day and no power to stay.
For the Glory of God,
PBKSR