Prohibited Prayer

Satan will use anything and anyone to keep a man off his knees.  R. M. McCheyne said, "What a man is on his knees before God, that he is and no more."  We're not much, are we?  Someone also said, "If you want to humiliate a minister, ask him about his prayer life."  How truly devoted is he to the Christ whom he preaches and offers to the lost?  How much does he love the Saviour (Jn.21:15-19)?  What are his real priorities in ministry?

Perhaps we are much too full of our own importance for God to use us.  Perhaps self-righteousness has taken a hold of us that we would not be prepared to admit.  Perhaps we imagine that by performing well in the pulpit, our own or someone else's, we are pleasing the Lord.  Are we?  Is ministry just about performance?  How much do we really depend upon God's anointing when we preach, and how much on ourselves? 

We need to dedicate ourselves to doing serious business with God if we are see any move of His Spirit.  But we are not prepared to do what it takes to make this a reality.  We're too busy at other things.  We need to de-clutter our lives of all that does not allow us to do that very thing.

This is surely enough to be going on with for now.  We will continue this dialogue with a view to making the necessary changes in our lives so that we reflect more closely the pattern set out in Scripture.