This Saturday is a big day in my life and something I have been looking forward to for many months now. This marks our second annual Worship Rally and this year’s event brings with it much excitement and anticipation for what God wants to do in the lives of people at this worship experience. Our goal for this event is straightforward, unapologetic, and unwavering: we intend to worship Jesus and present His gospel in a fresh and compelling way.
My pastor, Chuck Bridges, began a series on prayer yesterday. He opened with this statement: “Prayer should be like breathing for the believer”. While I have spent time with my Lord, and sought His guidance about the Worship Rally, I wish that I could say that I invested an amount of time in prayer commensurate with the time spent planning and preparing for this event – but I can’t. Sure, I have petitioned God for His guidance, confessed my unworthiness, prayed for those who will attend, sought God’s anointing in my preaching, asked for strength and inspiration for all of our volunteers – but if prayer really was my oxygen, my O² levels would freak my doctor out!Now I have a strong prayer life, but the point I want to make is this. God expects us to do our part. I am fully convinced that a lazy spirit is not something that pleases an almighty God. He expects us to do our part. To kick it in neutral and then sit back and say, “No worries! God will handle the details” is deplorable. That’s testing God and Satan tried to get Jesus to do precisely that.
What I am saying is that no amount of planning or preparing on our part compares with time spent talking with God about the situation! Prayer is most relevant and effective when we align our priorities with His. Jesus gave us come pretty strong clues regarding what His priority is and how we can pray about it (2 Pet 3:9, Luke 10:2). God wants people to be saved. He wants people to repent. He is in control of the Soul Harvest. We are to ask (pray) for the workers (that’s me and you) to go out. I’ll do another post another time on our responsibility for personal evangelism. Right now, I’m asking you to pray for this harvest. The gospel will be presented. Jesus will be praised and worshipped. Pray for opportunities to invite people. Bring anyone you know who might need to hear about the love and forgiveness Jesus offers. Invite strangers and people you meet this week to join you next Saturday. You can bring people to a “concert” who would never darken the doors of a “church”.
God is up to something. I can’t wait to see what He does! We have prayed. We have planned. We have prepared. By God’s grace and His strength, we are ready. The tendency is to let up now. Please don’t do that. Pray. Pray now. Pray hard. Pray often. Pray together. Pray by yourself. Pray when you wake up. Pray when you go to bed. Pray in your car. Pray in the shower. Pray without ceasing. Pray again. Just pray.
