Pray First

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." (Philippians 4:6)

How's your prayer life?  Ouch—that can be a painful question.  If you're like me, your prayer life is probably not quite where it should be.  Yet most of us would agree that prayer is powerful and important.  So today, I want to discuss two prayer issues I've noticed in my own life.  First is perspective, and the second is order.

When Alice and I first began going to India, we would work hard preparing for ministry activities during our stay there, and then praying that God would bless this effort, that He would do a mighty work.  We would ask God to, "Please bring the people to the meetings, and open their hearts to the gospel.  Sincere?  Absolutely.  Effective?  Probably not as much as it could have been. 

For years we would ask God to guide our planning and then bless the outcome.  We would do the work and ask God to add the power.  But I don't believe that is what He meant when He said, "I will be with you."  In reality, God is way ahead of us in preparing the way.  We are to join His activity, what He is already doing. It's not our work, but His, and we need to discover His presence in it and try to help others see Him as well.

Now let's look at the issue of order.  During my time as Executive Director of AIM, people would ask me about a purchase for the ministry.  I immediately responded with my thoughts on the subject, and then that night I took some time to pray about it.  That has pretty much been the pattern in my life—act, then pray.  It's a difficult habit to break.

I can easily get caught up trying to influence a situation first through my words, my actions, or my money.  Then, I often add prayer to empower the action.  But that is the opposite of what needs to happen.  Prayer must always come first.  Prayer must pave the way, and shape my thoughts and actions to that of my Lord.  Prayer must lead, then actions, words, and money must follow.

We need to stop adding prayer to our activity, and instead add activity to our prayers.  This is the only way we can hope to penetrate the unreached for the sake of the kingdom.

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