PRAYERLESSNESS OF OUR CHURCHES. (1)
by John David
Without the spirit of prayer present in a congregation converts will be made by men, but not by God. They will be taught doctrine, creed, and biblical history, confessions of faith, and biblical verse memorization, but lack the inner Teacher in the absence of the spirit of prayer.

Charles Finney of the Second Great Awakening and George Whitefield of the First Great Awakening were totally dependent upon the spirit of prayer. Finney would only preach in a church where it was manifest in at least one or two saints. The whole secret of his ministry was the spirit of prayer. He personally knew the secret of prayer described in Romans 8 and 2 Corinthians 10. He knew what it was to ‘stand in the gap’, to plead, reason, and remonstrate with his heavenly Father.

This was none other than the secret of Moses, Daniel, and Elijah. Albeit, for an assembly of the saints, warm coals can only retain their fire when with other warm coals which then may become hot if they pray audibly to their Father together. This is the secret of the statement: “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. Otherwise, the church is constantly on the defensive against a wily foe who can outwit it.

When saints pray audibly and unashamedly in Christ’s name the smoking flax will flare into flame again and the bruised and broken reeds will begin to revive. To underestimate the spoken prayers of the saints is folly indeed. The invisible cycle of this process is described in 2 Corinthians 10.

Jesus said that where two or three gather together in prayer there he will be in the midst. This is commonly misunderstood as happening in worship. It takes praying elders and deacons audibly praying together beforehand if Jesus is to be in the midst of that worship. No it is not a one man show or one minister’s responsibility.

Public unashamed audible prayer of the brethren, supported by the silent intercession of the sisters will bring a new dynamic. “Prayer changes things,” said Praying Hyde of India. “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of,” said Alfred Tennyson.

If allowed to be a stable part of the assembly’s weekly program inevitably the spirit of prayer will eventually be manifest impassioning and emboldening saints’ supplications with fervency. Cold hearts will become strangely warmed in the presence of interceding saints.

Without opportunity for the spirit of prayer no matter how pure an assembly’s doctrine; no matter how upright its preacher or elders; no matter how pious its members- it is nevertheless dying by attrition and all the evangelistic outreach and visitation efforts in the world will not keep the status quo from shrinking. This is why churches all over the west on both sides of the Atlantic finally shut their doors.

(TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2 & 3.)

PRAYERLESSNESS OF OUR CHURCHES. (1)
Without the spirit of prayer present in a congregation converts will be made by men, but not by God. They will be taught doctrine, creed, and biblical history, confessions of faith, and biblical verse memorization, but lack the inner Teacher in the absence of the spirit of prayer.

Charles Finney of the Second Great Awakening and George Whitefield of the First Great Awakening were totally dependent upon the spirit of prayer. Finney would only preach in a church where it was manifest in at least one or two saints. The whole secret of his ministry was the spirit of prayer. He personally knew the secret of prayer described in Romans 8 and 2 Corinthians 10. He knew what it was to ‘stand in the gap’, to plead, reason, and remonstrate with his heavenly Father.

This was none other than the secret of Moses, Daniel, and Elijah. Albeit, for an assembly of the saints, warm coals can only retain their fire when with other warm coals which then may become hot if they pray audibly to their Father together. This is the secret of the statement: “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. Otherwise, the church is constantly on the defensive against a wily foe who can outwit it.

When saints pray audibly and unashamedly in Christ’s name the smoking flax will flare into flame again and the bruised and broken reeds will begin to revive. To underestimate the spoken prayers of the saints is folly indeed. The invisible cycle of this process is described in 2 Corinthians 10.

Jesus said that where two or three gather together in prayer there he will be in the midst. This is commonly misunderstood as happening in worship. It takes praying elders and deacons audibly praying together beforehand if Jesus is to be in the midst of that worship. No it is not a one-man show or one minister’s responsibility.

Public unashamed audible prayer of the brethren, supported by the silent intercession of the sisters will bring a new dynamic. “Prayer changes things,” said Praying Hyde of India. “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of,” said Alfred Tennyson.

If allowed to be a stable part of the assembly’s weekly program inevitably the spirit of prayer will eventually be manifest impassioning and emboldening saints’ supplications with fervency. Cold hearts will become strangely warmed in the presence of interceding saints.

Without an opportunity for the spirit of prayer no matter how pure an assembly’s doctrine; no matter how upright its preacher or elders; no matter how pious its members- it is nevertheless dying by attrition and all the evangelistic outreach and visitation efforts in the world will not keep the status quo from shrinking. This is why churches all over the west on both sides of the Atlantic finally shut their doors.
Article by John David
Quoted Scriptures from the KJV Bible (King James Version- Public Domain.)

(TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2 & 3.)

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PROFILE of BIBLE SIMPLY SIMPLE KEYS TO UNDERSTANDING AND KNOWING YOUR BIBLE’S CONTENTS   HOW TO START READING YOUR BIBLE. As we are educated to be doubters and skeptics, one way or another, you need to employ the willing suspension of disbelief at the very start and if you have not believed the following tenets enumerated below you must pretend they are true while reading. 1. Read it as if it is the infallible Word of God. 2. Remember in the first chapter of the first of sixty-six books: Genesis, these words appear: a. “God said-God made-God called” i. God said what you’re reading ii. God made the patriarchs, prophets & apostles write them. iii. God called ordinary men to write His Words. Do not treat them as in any other book. 3. Do not analyze it by your own intellect for logic or truthfulness; 4. Do not judge it by your powers of mental reason or of popular philosophy; 5. Read it as God’s Word demonstrating the waywardness of rebellious human nature cursed by sin; 6. Read it noticing the rare men or women that wholeheartedly seek God sincerely without ulterior motive; 7. Read it noticing the futile attempts of men to keep the moral law, vainly worshipping with lip service; 8. Read it and continue the habit even when you do not understand it for God is secretly at work because the Bible says:-: a. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God: i. Romans 10: 17. b. The pre-eternal Christ’s name is the Word, in the triune godhead of the Father, the Word & Spirit: i. 1st John 5:7; 1st John 1:1; John’s Gospel 1:1. 9. Read it without the help of church or clergy until there arises within your heart a pang of hunger to wholeheartedly be a daily Bible reader. 10. Read it until God’s grace enlightens the eyes of your understanding to fathom Christ’s message to you in both the Old and New Testaments (excepting the uninspired Apocrypha in some Bibles) 11. Read it noticing the principles of the wise reader found in the following Bible references:- a. Proverbs 3:5-6; 1st Corinthians 2:14; 2nd Timothy 3:16; Romans 1:17; John’s Gospel 1:17. 12. Keep in mind that the minute your mind asserts superior wisdom over your Bible reading you are a fool. a. Romans 1:22. 13. The reason the mind blindly argues against the credibility of Scripture that the problem is from the heart: a. Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? PROFILE John David’s Bible Simply is a Know Your Bible program. Bible Simply has been formed to reach the ‘household of faith’ and the god-fearing pilgrims struggling to understand the Bible. Bible Simply would encourage spasmodic readers to become daily Bible readers and regular readers to become more acquainted with the Old and New Testaments. For a free Bible Study or New Testament sample: c/- biblesimply@gmail.com or Please write to- Bible Simply PO Box 366603, Bonita Springs FL 34136. Bible Simply is neither church-based nor sectarian in approach. It does not solicit church attendance or use follow-up methods unless requested. Bible Simply holds to the tenets of our Puritan forefathers and their early English Bible translations based on the Greek Text of Erasmus, not the unreliable 19th C Greek New Testament of Westcott & Hort upon which most modern translations of the Bible are based. MOTTO: “Faith alone- by grace alone- through Scripture alone.” ‘The just shall live by faith,’ not of themselves but of grace. http://bonitabiblemission.worthyofpraise.org/how-to-start-reading-your-bible/