Luke 21:36 “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above the Lord Jesus admonishes His saints to be watchful and to pray always. Being watchful and being prayerful are synonymous terms in scripture. The Lord Jesus would not admonish us to pray always if prayer was unimportant. In fact in this passage the Lord emphasizes just how important prayer is, for He links our prayer life to our being counted worthy to stand before Him on our day of judgement. Clearly it is foolish for believers to neglect their priestly ministry of prayer before the Lord.
Ephesians 6:18 “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.”
In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul confirms the same truth to us about prayer, for He also admonishes us to be watchful in our prayers and encourages us to pray always. When Paul makes his comment he links it to praying in the spirit. The reason Paul does that is because he recognises that this is the one area where many stumble, for although the spirit of the believer is willing, it is the flesh of the believer that rebels against prayer. It is for this reason that Paul encourages the saints to persevere in prayer, because he understands that perseverance is required to overcome the objections of the flesh.
Revelation 3:1-3 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, 'These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: "I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. (2) be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. (3) Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.”
Our Lord Jesus has warned us that a church that refuses to spend time in prayer will not only stop growing, but it will eventually die. In the above quoted passage of scripture when our Lord Jesus addressed the church in Sardis, He told them that unless they repented and began to pray, that their church would eventually die. This same warning applies not only to churches however, but also to the individual believer’s walk with the Lord. In other words if believers refuse to give themselves to prayer, they will no longer grow in the things of God and they may even lose that which they already have.
1 Samuel 12:23 “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you.”
We have seen in this section thus far that prayer is an essential part of our ministry to the Lord as priests. We have also seen that prayer is an essential part of our walk with the Lord. In the above quoted passage of scripture we see another reason why prayer is so important for believers, for in this passage the prophet Samuel teaches us that when we neglect to pray for others that we are in fact sinning against the Lord. So why is that? The reason is because God has called His church to be the house of prayer for all nations, and therefore believers who refuse to pray are in fact rebelling against God, thus sinning against Him.
Michael E.B. Maher
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