The Breakthrough of Prayer

The Breakthrough of Prayer

“But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:42

John Sanford, in his book,The Kingdom Within, tells about a well at a farm house where his family spent their summers. Though the well had been a good one, they discontinued using it when a community water system was installed. Some years later, someone decided to draw some water from the old well. Much to their surprise they discovered that it was dry. That seemed puzzling. It had always provided them with plenty of water in the past. Why after years of disuse should it be dry? The answer they discovered was that the well had been fed by hundreds of tiny rivulets. When water was drawn out of the well, it was refilled by water flowing through those tiny openings. After years of disuse, however, the tiny rivulets had become stopped up. The well had dried up not because there was no water, but because the well had fallen into disuse.

Obviously there is a parallel here to the devotional life of a Christian. When we fall out of the habit of daily communication with God, there is a clogging of the channel ways, as it were. The distressing thing is that this clogging of the spiritual arteries is happening to more and more Christians. We are not the praying people we once were and the effect of that neglect can be seen in our homes, in our community and in our church.

One of President Reagan’s favorite stories is the one about the minister’s son who was taken out camping one day. His companion warned him not to stray too far from the campfire because the woods were full of wild beasts of all kinds. The young boy had every intention, really, of following that advice but inevitably he was drawn by curiosity and wandered farther and farther from the fire. Suddenly, he found himself face to face with a very large and powerful looking bear. He saw no means of escape, and seeing the bear advance rather menacingly towards him, the minister’s son did what he had been taught to do. He knelt down to pray for deliverance. He closed his eyes tightly, but opened them a few moments later and was delighted to see that the bear was also kneeling in prayer right in front of him. He said, "Oh, bear, isn’t  this wonderful! Here we are with such different view points and such different lives and such different perceptions of life and we’re both praying to the same Lord."  The bear said, "Son, I don t know about you, but I’m saying grace."

I know what many of you are thinking: Where can I find the time? Many of you sympathize with poor Martha frantically hurrying about the house, serving the food, making certain that all of the guests are comfortable, while her sister Mary sits spellbound at the feet of Jesus. "Lord, don’t you care," says Martha to Jesus, "That my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to come help me.  Jesus’ response was not to downplay the importance of what she was doing, but to up-play the importance of prayer.
I want to list a few things that suggest the importance of prayer in our lives. Nothing in our lives is quite so vital.

1.   First, prayer is the most potent power source available to us:

Evelyn Christenson shares how living life without prayer to vacuuming a whole room and not having the vacuum cleaner plugged into the wall socket. She writes, "We work, we pull, we struggle, we plan until we are utterly exhausted, but we forget to plug into the source of our power." You will remember that Martin Luther said that when his day was packed with appointments and other duties, he found it necessary to spend an extra hour in prayer. It is when our lives are a whirlwind of activity that we most need to take time out to commune with God. "Ten minutes spent in Christ’s presence every day," wrote Henry Drummond, one of the world’s premiere scholars and intellects, "Aye, two minutes, will make the whole day different." Bishop Wescott put it this way, "Prayer is opening up the floodgates to the mighty ocean of God."
That is true of all of us. The really tired part is on the inside. That is the first reason why we must take time to pray. Prayer is the most potent power source available to us.

2.   Second, prayer helps us keep our priorities in order:

Can you see how helpful it might be to you, to spend a few moments each day alone with God, going over the day’s demands and asking the question, "What is it that I need to do today that is really of utmost importance?"  Do you see the practical value in what I am saying?  I hope so. I encounter so many people who are so fatigued and so frustrated, and the problem is right here.  We have neglected our power source and our priorities are out of order.

3.  Thirdly, prayer gives us an inner strength to deal with challenges:

When we pray, we develop the internal core that supersedes and outlasts the outer pressures that come our way.

You and I must take time to pray. Prayer is the key that unlocks the awesome power of God in our lives. Prayer helps us put our priorities in order. Prayer makes it possible for us to face up to our problems, to persevere until that day when God gives us victory over them. You don’t have time to pray? Think again. As busy as our lives are nowadays, who can afford not to pray?

Terry Risser

Reflections:

1)   How does prayer make you feel?

2)   Do you agree or disagree that it results in the three areas mentioned?

Copyright 2015- Terry Risser