The true man of God is heartsick, grieved at the worldliness of the Church…grieved at the toleration of sin in the Church, grieved at the prayerlessness in the Church. He is disturbed that the corporate prayer of the Church no longer pulls down the strongholds of the devil.
I think the greatest miracle that God can do is to take an unholy man out of an unholy world, and make that unholy man holy and put him back in an unholy world and keep him holy.
The Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Power helpeth our infirmity in prayer.
The Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Life ends our deadness in prayer.
The Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Wisdom delivers us from ignorance in this holy art of prayer.
The Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Fire delivers us from coldness in prayer.
The Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Might comes to our aid in our weakness as we pray.
The church used to be a lightning bolt, now it’s a cruise ship. We are not marching to Zion – we are sailing there with ease. In the apostolic church it says they were all amazed – and now in our churches everybody wants to be amused. The church began in the upper room with a bunch of men agonizing, and it’s ending in the supper room with a bunch of people organizing. We mistake rattle for revival, and commotion for creation, and action for unction.
Notice, we never pray for folks we gossip about, and we never gossip about the folk for whom we pray! For prayer is a great deterrent.
One of these days some simple soul will pick up the Book of God, read it, and believe it. Then the rest of us will be embarrassed.
Let the fires go out in the boiler room of the church and the place will still look smart and clean, but it will be cold. The Prayer Room is the boiler room for its spiritual life.
This much is sure in all churches, forgetting party labels; the smallest meeting numerically is the prayer-meeting. If weak in prayer we are weak everywhere.
But have we Holy Ghost power – power that restricts the devil’s power, pulls down strongholds and obtains promises? Daring delinquents will be damned if they are not delivered from the devil’s dominion. What has hell to fear other than a God-anointed, prayer-powered church?
If Jesus preached the same message minister’s preach today, He would have never been crucified.
A man may study because his brain is hungry for knowledge, even Bible knowledge. But he prays because his soul is hungry for God.
Could a mariner sit idle if he heard the drowning cry? Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his patients die? Could a fireman sit idle, let men burn and give no hand? Can you sit at ease in Zion with the world around you damned?