Copyright
© 2020 Michael A. Brown
‘In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our
weakness. We do not know what we ought
to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words
cannot express. And he who searches our
hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the
saints in accordance with God’s will.’ (Rom. 8:26-27)
THE prayer meeting used to be called
the ‘boiler room’ of a church’s life. It
is common sense that if the church’s boiler or heating system is broken and
does not work properly, then the church building will be freezing cold on
Sunday morning. And nobody wants
that! In fact, if believers knew it
wasn’t working properly, then they would probably stay at home.
It is much the same in our spiritual
life. Where there is no regular prayer
meeting, and little or no personal prayer and seeking of God at home, then
church meetings on Sunday are always sleepy, sluggish, cold and hard to
lead. But when a church is a praying
church, when the prayer meeting is well-attended and there is free prayer and
praise which uplifts and breaks through, then Sunday meetings are warm, easy to
lead, and believers know the immanent presence of God with them. God works in the midst, and there is regular
testimony from people whose lives are changing and being transformed.
These days we eat well, many of us live
comfortably, we often spend long periods of time on social media, and we
socialise as much as we care to, but the one thing that is often missing from
the life of many churches and congregations is real intercession. We have all the gadgets we could possibly
need, and it’s often difficult to prise people away from these, so that they
can then focus better on the things of God, sometimes even in church meetings. Indeed, we can hardly put our gadgets down
for long enough to talk to each other anymore, let alone spend quality time
with God! Frank Bartleman pointed out
that in many churches there is little burden for souls, because believers are
too busy enjoying themselves. They do
not want to carry a spiritual burden, because this is too hard on their flesh![1]
Many believers have everything they need,
but they spend little time with God during the week, and their Bible is not
read daily. So our church meetings, for
all their paraphernalia, organization, programmes and activities, too often
lack the tangibly-felt presence of God.
They lack anointing and spiritual authority in the pulpit, and they lack
the power of God to save, heal and free those who are spiritually
oppressed. Because there is no inward burden. There is no cry from the heart.
There is no travail. As a
result, many churches are stagnating and not going forward, and they are slowly
ageing and dying off. One look at the
average age of those attending shows us what will inevitably happen to these
churches in the next fifteen years or so, if things remain as they are...
E.M. Bounds made the point that what the
church needs is not more machinery, organizations or more and better
methods. It needs men and women who can
be used by the Holy Spirit. It needs
people of prayer, people who are powerful in prayer. The Holy Spirit does not flow through, come
upon or anoint methods, activities or plans.
He anoints people, people of prayer.
While churches are perhaps looking for better methods, good as these may
be, God himself is looking for better people.[2]
Today, we do not need more technological
paraphernalia to help us in our church life; we have enough. We do not need more seminars on church
management, although these are good and helpful when needed; we have
enough. We do not need more lights or
instruments on the stage; our church music is often great and inspiring as it
is. Many churches do not need to plan
more activities; they already have enough.
What we need – and what God himself needs – are more intercessors,
more people who know what it is to carry a burden from God in their heart for
his work, and who will regularly seek God behind the scenes.
The spiritual state of
many churches today demands a return to the ‘old ways’ of prayer. In spite of, or perhaps because of our
constant activity and our emphasis on other things, prayer is too often
neglected and pushed aside. For all our
talks, seminars and conferences – good and helpful as these may be – if
churches are to see revival and a real move of God, and be strong into the next
generation, then the spiritual dynamics of prayer and intercession also need to
be addressed, re-emphasised and learned.
Prayer and intercession lie at
the heart of every move of God, great or small, at home or abroad, past or
present. We need to repent and
return to the ‘old ways’ that previous generations proved were the ways of
God. If there is no breakthrough, if God does
not seem to be working at all, it is too often because prayer, fasting, and
quality time spent seeking the face of God and being in his presence – either
individually or corporately – are neglected.
When pastors and leaders, young or old, either neglect or simply fail to
learn this, then their work does not bear real, lasting fruit. As Leonard Ravenhill commented, we could read every book ever written on prayer, but that would
not actually make us a person of prayer.
We learn to pray by doing it.[3]
I was reading the other day a piece of
writing by Ravenhill, called “A Secret Foundation” in which he emphasised this:
‘A
few years ago, I heard the story of one missionary serving with our
organization who, in a short time, had planted five churches in a difficult
part of north-east India. Curious of how
this young brother did it, I called one of our senior leaders and asked him if
he could tell me more about this brother’s ministry. All that I knew was that he was from a tribal
background and didn’t have any college education, yet regardless, it seemed
that God was with him in a remarkable way.
The
first church he planted began with the healing of a Hindu priest who was
paralyzed. Then, one after another, four
more churches were born. I was more than
curious to find out this brother’s secret.
Our senior leader said he would check into it and let me know what he
found out. When he called to tell me, he
said, “There is nothing unusual about him.
I found nothing special except for one thing – he gets up very early
each morning and spends two or three hours in prayer and then an hour or two
reading the Bible. This habit began
while he was studying in one of our Bible colleges.”’[4]
It is such examples which clarify to us
what God’s order is. The first and
primary thing he is looking for is not education or degrees (although these are
very useful and necessary to our development, growth and understanding of
ministry), it is a consecrated heart.
It is a heart that seeks him and puts intimacy with him as its first
priority. It is a person who prays and
seeks him often and consistently. It is
such people that God anoints, and through whom he can work and bring powerful
breakthrough and revival. Pastors and preachers who know
what real prayer and intercession are behind the scenes, are invariably filled
with the joy, peace and presence of God.
They carry it with them, because they are frequent visitors to the
secret place. It is prayer and intercession
behind the scenes that gives rise to real spiritual authority, fire and passion
in the pulpit, and leads to breakthrough in people’s lives.
God is looking for surrendered vessels,
people who can carry a burden from God in their hearts for his work, not simply
people who in other ways may be admirably qualified and who are happy to be
outwardly active and busy. And this
applies to both ministers and believers...
The essence of intercession is that the Holy Spirit so grips our heart
about an issue smaller or greater that we feel inwardly burdened about it, and
this compels us to seek God regularly about this issue. He places his burden for something in our
hearts, and we groan and travail in his presence until we become free of this
burden and God openly answers our prayer.
This is what invariably characterised the
prayer lives of the great men and women of God.
They carried a burden from God within them which gripped their hearts
and lives, and compelled them to seek his face.
They would pray during the day and then would often pray into the night
as well. They would often fast
naturally, because the burden they were carrying within them so gripped and
consumed them, that sometimes they had no appetite for food. The purposes of God were conceived within
them by the Holy Spirit, and then birthed and worked out through them by prayer
and intercession, and through the ministry that grew up around them as a
result. And wherever we look – whether
it is at David Brainerd, John Hyde, Evan Roberts, Rees Howells, Frank
Bartleman, or many others – we find this same underlying dynamic, although their
ministries differed outwardly.
We may or may not be used like these great
men of God, but this ministry of intercession can work on any level when we
surrender our lives to God, and allow the Holy Spirit to freely grip us and
work in our lives. It is at the heart of any
fruitful ministry and any truly effective church, and it brings new life and
change into what was previously barren, dead or stagnating. When prayer and intercession are honoured and
given their rightful place in a church’s life, then its boiler and heating
system are functioning properly and God’s work goes forward in the way that it
should!
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