Why the American church will never reach the world for Christ.

Why the American church will never reach the world for Christ.

First, let’s get the disclaimers out of the way.  The absolute term ‘never’ is understood with the caveat of “as it currently exists and without meaningful change.”  Before the American church will be able to reach the world, it will have to under go radical changes in a number of areas, but for the moment, I want to focus on just one:  Giving to foreign missions.

According to Dr. Pam Arlund, “nationally, less than 1% of total funds collected by US churches are used for ‘foreign missions’.  Less than 1% of those funds earmarked for ‘foreign missions” is targeted toward ‘unreached people groups’ (cultures with no Christian witness or presence).”  Dr. Arlund is referring to findings from the Joshua Project. 

In other words, if a church had collections of $100,000 in a given year, on average $1,000 would be given to foreign missions.  Of that $1,000 about $10 dollars would be directed toward efforts to reach people who have no Christian contact at all.  I tried to put this in a pie graph but the slice of the pie for unreached people groups was so small it could not be seen.  If the letters in this article were dollars, the amount dedicated to unreached people would be equal to one letter i.  We are talking in wide generalizations.  I know of some churches that give 10%, 20%, 50% or more to missions.  But as a whole, unreached people have not been a spending priority for the U.S. church.

As a nation, the United States has possessed a level of wealth that is without compare in history.  While being only 6% of the world’s population, we have come to possess almost half of the world’s good things.  The church has for many years enjoyed significant influence regarding that wealth.  That is not to say the church has possessed all that wealth, but for generations America was a nation with a Christian world-view.  The priorities of the church were to a greater or lesser extent the priorities of the individuals, families, and nation.  And of late, the priorities of the church were not reaching the unreached.

Many years ago I asked, “Has God made the American church so rich so that we could fund, support, and share with our impoverished fellow Christians around the world?”  As an idealistic ministry student in undergrad studies, I was met with patronizing and condescending comments that I would understand how church budgets worked when I was older.

Well, I am older know.  When asked my hair color, I have to answer gray.  I have arthritis in my fingers, ringing in my ears and can see squat without my glasses.  I have pastored churches, overseen budgets, worked in the private sector and watched, what I believe is, the decline of the American church.   I believe the answer to the question that youngster ask all those years ago is, “Yes, God has given us much so we can share with our underprivileged brothers and sisters.”

But we have not.  You may have heard of the mega church preacher that asked every one in his church to give $300 so he could buy a Gulfstream G650 private jet.  But it is not mega churches that pull these stunts.  I recently heard of a church of a couple of hundred attendees that spent $60,000 to create a Starbucks like coffee area in their fellowship hall, used only for church folks at church events.  This was in addition to the brand new kitchen in their new building.  Another church, at the direction of the senior egoist (I mean pastor) spent $40,000 on a state of the art lighting system for their stage area.  This was a congregation of a couple hundred; it has since decline dramatically.  May new lighting was not what the church really needed.

Jesus told this story about a rich man who gave three of his servants’ significant sums of money.  Two of the three used the money wisely and produced results that pleased their master.  The third hid the money.  It appears that he was hoping that something would happen to the master and he could keep the money as his own and use it as he wished.  The master brought swift, sure, and wrathful judgment on this selfish scoundrel.

Are we seeing our master’s judgment on the American church?  Maybe.  It would explain an awful lot.  Most churches (both congregation and denominations/fellowships) are in decline.  The influence of evil within and upon the church is growing.   The default rate of churches on their mortgages was recently at an all time high.   Conversion growth is near a stand still and what growth is occurring is, by and large, membership transfer growth. 

I don’t believe we can placate God by throwing dollars at any special project.  More than anything else our giving and spending patterns reflect our heart and convictions.  But I do believe it is time for all of us, individually and then collectively, to answer some questions about our spending patterns and priorities.  Perhaps we could take up this chant, “One more people group before one more coffee center.”

Side Bar: It is Easter week 2015 and we are only about half done in telling the world that good news of the Resurrected Lord.  Imagine, if you can, not having the hope and joy of the resurrection.  What would it be like to live not knowing the victory of the ever-living Christ?  According to the Joshua Project there are about 3 billion people who are part of some 4,000 people groups who are without hope.  This represents about 41% of all the people groups on earth.  I was very interested to learn that are 77 unreached people groups here in the U.S.  These groups range in population from 500, for Sherpa, to the 5 million Jewish people, of whom less that 2% are evangelical Christians.  I highly recommend you explore www.joshuaproject.net, and let it be a motivation to pray.

Fat chicks, Airboats and a Bad Attitude

It had been a pretty tough week.  Most of the major events of the week had been more negative than positive; presentations that did not go well, client issues that we simply could not seem to resolve.  News from the field that was the opposite of what I had wanted to hear.  That is not to say all the news was bad.  To use a military metaphor, we had won skirmishes and lost battles.  I was in a bit of a cross mood, but was trying to put a happy face on things. 

I had a cancelation for an evening meeting.  Without enough time to find another appointment to fill that slot I decided to plan a little get away.  To understand this get away, I have to tell you a little about myself.  I hate city living.  I live in a city of about 4,000 people.  We are located on a state hwy with what seems like constant traffic.  I prefer chickens, hogs, cattle, and gardens to city living.  When I am in a big city (anything over 30,000), the constant noise makes me feel like I am going to turn into ash and blow away.  I feel like a caged animal in the press of large populations.  Having been on the road all week, I was desperately looking forward to this get away. 

I had found a little slough that made its way to about a 10-acre shallow lake.  I was going to take a kayak and paddle this slough and explore the lake.  My plan was to get to the lake about 5 in the afternoon and enjoy the quiet till full dark and paddle back by moonlight.  I had seen a 3 foot gator once before and was looking forward to photographing the wild life.  I was almost giddy with excitement.  As I drove toward the lake, I saw the worst thing I could imagine at that moment; an airboat on a trailer headed for the lake.

For those of you who may not be familiar with airboats let me describe them to you.  These boats are flat-bottomed craft, with a airplane propeller the thrust of which pushes the boat across the water.  They only require about 6 inches of water to operate and can, with a large enough motor, push across dry land.  The motor of choice seems to be a large V-8 engine with NO MUFFLER AT ALL.  This set up would be almost universally illegal if it were in a car.  Don’t get me wrong, I believe there is a place for these loud boats.  It is patrolling the lake of fire and brimstone, piloted by demons to make sure that all the damned suffer.  But a quite remote lake is not where they belong.  On this and other issues, I disagree with the state of Florida.

Seeing that airboat head down the long dirt road that dead ended in a remote lake was the trigger I needed for a full blown self pity party with a major dose of self righteousness as the guest host.  It didn’t help that I went to a boat launch on a near by river to find it infested with loud scantily clad, over weight women, having a white trash argument over who had the better looking back side.

I railed against the inherent unfairness of my life, of what a good person I was and how my life was such a hardship.  I complained that I did so much good and others got the reward.  I fumed that while I loved the beauty of creation, people who are not as good, wise, or gracious as me ruined it and robbed me of my one and only effort for a respite.  I could go on, but I won’t because it only got worse.  I will suffice to say I could teach Jonah and Job how to complain and indulge in self-pity.  It was not pretty.  As I have reflected over this complaint, a few things came to mind.  I hope my confessions will help you.

When I grumble about difficult clients and the struggles of my work I am testifying against myself.  I am charging myself with the sin of lack of faith.  I am unintentionally admitting that I believe I am my own provider and not God.  It reveals the sin of not trusting God.

When I indulge in self-pity, I confess to the sin of accusing God of not loving me.  Self-pity assumes that God doesn’t love me or else things would work out better.  Is my love for God based on what He can deliver for me, or loving Him for who He is? 

When I wallow in the harshness of my wounded pride and self, I testify that I do not have the joy of the Lord.  His joy is not based on circumstances, but on the relationship I have with the Son and through Him the relationship I have with the Father. 

In the depths of my spiraling, sinful emotions I believe, “Everyone would be better off if they were not associated with me in any way.”  I bring an accusation of evil against God.  I am, in effect, saying “God, you did not know what you were doing when you made me, and when you brought me to this place in my life.  You did evil in making me and in bringing these people into relationship with me.”  To claim to know more than God about how He should make people is perhaps the highest form of pride, and is very much like the accusations of Satan before his fall.

To rail against the circumstances of life is to show the hypocrisy of my prayers.  Didn’t I just recently pray for God to shape me and form me to be useful for His purposes?   Like a potter He applies pressure to shape the clay and the clay moans and accuses the potter of not being a good potter.   Perhaps my prayers are play-acting religion to try and impress God and curry His favor to get what I want. 

Clearly, I failed the test.  A student asked the professor, “Why did you give me an “F”?  To which the professor patiently replied, “I didn’t want to give you an “F”.  But unfortunately, it was the lowest grade I could assign.”

But here is the good news for me and for you if you can at all relate to this story.  God allows us the option to get up and try again.  I wish that I had done better!  I hope that I will do better in the future!  I hope that I will be able to understand the pressures of life, not as some great injury or injustice that have singled me out as a victim, and invite me to a self thrown pity party.  But, rather, I want to see the pressures of life as the hand of the potter pressing on me to make changes so I can be more useful.  I am a long way from where I ought to be; further away than I thought.  But maybe, just maybe, I have better clarity on where I am, which way I ought to be going, and how far I ought to go.

Resources we didn’t know we had.

Don’t you hate it when you are completely wrong?  What is even worse is to be completely wrong in a public forum!  Worst of all is to be completely wrong in a public way and have your wife point it out!  Let’s all go and have root canals without any anesthesia. 

Last week I was bemoaning the fact that I had to drive my car while holding a bad cup of coffee because my car doesn’t have cup holders.  My wife read the blog and said something like, “Dear, I don’t want to be nit picky, but your car has cup holders.  They are in a pull out between the radio and the ash tray in the center of the dash”.  What I think she meant was, “You blithering idiot how could you miss something as obvious as those cup holders!”  That is not what she said but the patient tone in her voice was well, you get the point.  Let me offer my apologies to 1998 Geo Metros all over the world.

The fact is that we all have resources at our disposal that we either are not aware of or fail to enjoy.  And I mean things much greater than a cup holder on a car.  Without a doubt one of the greatest resources we under utilize is the power of prayer.   It is not that we do know about the power of prayer, but for some reason we simply do not pray.  In my own personal life and walk I want to grow in my prayer life.  The great heroes of the faith have been men and women of prayer.   I offer you some great prayer reminders and hope that they will encourage you to pray.

And please pray for me, I need your prayers in ways I can’t discuss at the moment. 

In the Cause of Christ

Charlie

1. "You can do more than pray after you have prayed; but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed."  A.J. Gordon

2. "God does nothing except in response to believing prayer."  John Wesley (Famous evangelist who spent 2 hours daily in prayer)    

3. "Prayer strikes the winning blow; service is simply picking up the pieces."  S.D. Gordon

4. "One should never initiate anything that he cannot saturate with prayer."  

5. "The greatest thing anyone can do for God or man is pray." S.D. Gordon

6. "If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.  Martin Luther

7. "The most important thing a born again Christian can do is to pray." Chuck Smith

8. "Prayer doesn't change the purpose of God, but prayer can change the action of God." Chuck Smith (Note: S.D. Gordon penned a similar quote).

9. "Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers." Sidlow Baxter

10. “God shapes the world by prayer. The more prayer there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil …” E.M. Bounds

11.  “Prayer is where the action is." John Wesley

12.  "Satan does not care how many people read about prayer if only he can keep them from praying. Paul E. Billheimer

13. "0h brother, pray; in spite of Satan, pray; spend hours in prayer; rather neglect friends than not pray; rather fast, and lose breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper - and sleep too - than not pray. And we must not talk about prayer, we must pray in right earnest. The Lord is near. He comes softly while the virgins slumber." Andrew A. Bonar

14. "Don’t pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees." Corrie ten Boom

15. "Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still." E.M. Bounds

16. "The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees. He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity and freshness, in other pursuits than seeking God will make poor headway seeking Him the rest of the day. If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, He will be in the last place the remainder of the day." E.M. Bounds

17. "God's cause is committed to men; God commits Himself to men. Praying men are the vice-regents of God; they do His work and carry out His plans." E.M. Bounds

18. "The prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity. If we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let us answer God's standing challenge, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not!'" (J. Hudson Taylor)

19.  "No learning can make up for the failure to pray. No earnestness, no diligence, no study, no gifts will supply its lack." E.M. Bounds

20. "The little estimate we put on prayer is evidence from the little time we give to it."  E.M. Bounds

21. "It is necessary to iterate and reiterate that prayer, as a mere habit, as a performance gone through by routine or in a professional way, is a dead and rotten thing."  E.M. Bounds

22.  "Satan trembles when he sees the weakest Christian on his knees."  William Cowper

23. "If the church wants a better pastor, it only needs to pray for the one it has."

24. "Seven days without prayer makes one weak."  Allen E. Vartlett

25. "Prayer is the real work, Evangelism is just the mopping up."

26. "You may as soon find a living man that does not breath, as a living Christian that does not pray."  Matthew Henry

27. "Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer."  John Bunyon

28. "He who has learned to pray has learned the greatest secret of a holy and happy life."  William Law

29.  "Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness."  Martin Luther.

30. "There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God." Brother Lawrence

31.  When asked how much time he spent in prayer, George Muller's reply was, "Hours every day. But I live in the spirit of prayer. I pray as I walk and when I lie down and when I arise. And the answers are always coming."  Source Unknown.

32. “The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying.  He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray.”  Samuel Chadwick

33. “I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach.”  Charles Spurgeon

34.  “The man who mobilizes the Christian church to pray will make the greatest contribution to world evangelization in history.”  Andrew Murray

35.  "If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me.” (Robert Murray McCheyne)

36.  “One day George Mueller began praying for five of his friends. After many months, one of them came to the Lord. Ten years later, two others were converted. It took 25 years before the fourth man was saved. Mueller persevered in prayer until his death for the fifth friend, and throughout those 52 years he never gave up hoping that he would accept Christ! His faith was rewarded, for soon after Mueller’s funeral the last one was saved.”

37. On persevering prayer: "I look at a stone cutter hammering away at a rock a hundred times without so much as a crack showing in it.  Yet at the 101st blow it splits in two.  I know it was not the one blow that did it, but all that had gone before."

38. "Eighteen-year-old Hudson Taylor wandered into his father's library and read a gospel tract. He couldn't shake off its message. Finally, falling to his knees, he accepted Christ as his Savior. Later, his mother, who had been away, returned home. When Hudson told her the good news, she said, "I already know. Ten days ago, the very date on which you tell me you read that tract, I spent the entire afternoon in prayer for you until the Lord assured me that my wayward son had been brought into the fold." Our Daily Bread, July 19, 1989.  [Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) was a famous missionary in China.  He was founder of the China Inland Mission which, at his death, included 205 mission stations with over 800 missionaries, and 125,000 Chinese Christians.  He spent 51 years in China].

39. Spurgeon's "boiler room." Five young college students were spending a Sunday in London, so they went to hear the famed C.H. Spurgeon preach. While waiting for the doors to open, the students were greeted by a man who asked, "Gentlemen, let me show you around. Would you like to see the heating plant of this church?" They were not particularly interested, for it was a hot day in July. But they didn't want to offend the stranger, so they consented. The young men were taken down a stairway, a door was quietly opened, and their guide whispered, "This is our heating plant." Surprised, the students saw 700 people bowed in prayer, seeking a blessing on the service that was soon to begin in the auditorium above. Softly closing the door, the gentleman then introduced himself. It was none other than Charles Spurgeon. Our Daily Bread, April 24.

40. "Prayer does not influence God. Prayer surely does influence God. It does not influence His purpose. It does influence His action."  S.D. Gordon

41. Prayer "is the root, the fountain, the mother of a thousand blessings."  Chrysostom

42.  "Prayer is the greatest of all forces, because it honors God and brings him into active aid."  E.M. Bounds

43. Prayer should not be regarded "as a duty which must be performed, but rather as a privilege to be enjoyed, a rare delight that is always revealing some new beauty."  E.M. Bounds

44.  "I never prayed sincerely and earnestly for anything but it came at some time; no matter at how distant a day, somehow, in some shape, probably the least I would have devised, it came."  Adoniram Judson

45. "Our prayer must not be self-centered. It must arise not only because we feel our own need as a burden we must lay upon God, but also because we are so bound up in love for our fellow men that we feel their need as acutely as our own. To make intercession for men is the most powerful and practical way in which we can express our love for them." John Calvin

46. "We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties." Oswald Chambers

47. "Faith in a prayer-hearing God will make a prayer-loving Christian." Andrew Murray

48.  "The battle of prayer is against two things in the earthlies: wandering thoughts, and lack of intimacy with God's character as revealed in His word. Neither can be cured at once, but they can be cured by discipline." Oswald Chambers

49. "Prayer breaks all bars, dissolves all chains, opens all prisons, and widens all straits by which God's saints have been held."  E. M. Bounds

50. "A life growing in its purity and devotion will be a more prayerful life."  E. M. Bounds

51.  "Four things let us ever keep in mind: God hears prayer, God heeds prayer, God answers prayer, and God delivers by prayer."  E. M. Bounds

52. "Prayer is the acid test of devotion."  Samuel Chadwick

53. "As is the business of tailors to make clothes and cobblers to make shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray."  Martin Luther

54. "Prayer is my chief work, and it is by means of it that I carry on the rest."  Thomas Hooker, Puritan

55. "The true church lives and moves and has its being in prayer."  Leonard Ravenhill

56. "We can do nothing without prayer. All things can be done by importunate prayer. That is the teaching of Jesus Christ".  E. M. Bounds

57. "Prayer wonderfully clears the vision; steadies the nerves; defines duty; stiffens the purpose; sweetens and strengthens the spirit."  S.D. Gordon

58. "The secret of all failure is our failure in secret prayer." The Kneeling Christian

59.  "...True prayer is measured by weight, not by length. A single groan before God may have more fullness of prayer in it than a fine oration of great length."  C. H. Spurgeon

60. "If you want that splendid power in prayer, you must remain in loving, living, lasting, conscious, practical, abiding union with the Lord Jesus Christ." C. H. Spurgeon

61. "Little praying is a kind of make believe, a salve for the conscience, a farce and a delusion."  E. M. Bounds (Emphasis added)

62. "The word of God is the food by which prayer is nourished and made strong."  E. M. Bounds 

63. "If the spiritual life be healthy, under the full power of the Holy Spirit, praying without ceasing will be natural."  Andrew Murray

64. "We do not pray at all until we are at our wits' end."  Oswald Chambers

65. “The great people of the earth today are the people who pray!  I do not mean those who talk about prayer; nor those who say they believe in prayer; nor those who explain prayer; but I mean those who actually take the time to pray. They have not time. It must be taken from something else. That something else is important, very important and pressing, but still, less important and pressing than prayer. There are people who put prayer first, and group the other items in life's schedule around and after prayer. These are the people today who are doing the most for God in winning souls, in solving problems, in awakening churches, in supplying both men and money for mission posts, in keeping fresh and strong their lives far off in sacrificial service on the foreign field, where the thickest fighting is going on, and in keeping the old earth sweet a little while longer.”  S.D. Gordon (Emphasis added)

66.  “Up in a little town in Maine, things were pretty dead some years ago. The churches were not accomplishing anything. There were a few Godly men in the churches, and they said: 'Here we are, only uneducated laymen; but something must be done in this town. Let us form a praying band. We will all center our prayers on one man. Who shall it be?' They picked out one of the hardest men in town, a hopeless drunkard, and centered all their prayers upon him.  In a week, he was converted.  They centered their prayers upon the next hardest man in town, and soon he was converted.  Then they took up another and another, until within a year, two or three hundred were brought to God, and the fire spread out into all the surrounding country.  Definite prayer for those in the prison house of sin is the need of the hour.”  Dr. R.A. Torrey

67. “Therefore, whether the desire for prayer is on you or not, get to your closet at the set time; shut yourself in with God; wait upon Him; seek His face; realize Him; pray.”  R. F. Horton

68. “Time spent alone with God is not wasted.  It changes us; it changes our surroundings; and every Christian who would live the life that counts, and who would have power for service must take time to pray.”  M.E. Andross

69.  Make time to pray.  “The great freight and passenger trains are never too busy to stop for fuel. No matter how congested the yards may be, no matter how crowded the schedules are, no matter how many things demand the attention of the trainmen, those trains always stop for fuel.”  M.E. Andross

70. “There is no other activity in life so important as that of prayer. Every other activity depends upon prayer for its best efficiency.”  M.E. Andross

71. “…the man on his knees has a leverage underneath the mountain which can cast it into the sea, if necessary, and can force all earth and heaven to recognize the power there is in 'His name.'”  M.E. Andross

72. When prayer has become secondary, or incidental, it has lost its power. Those who are conspicuously men of prayer are those who use prayer as they use food, or air, or light, or money."  M.E. Andross

73. "If the Christian does not allow prayer to drive sin out of his life, sin will drive prayer out of his life. Like light and darkness, the two cannot dwell together."  M.E. Andross

74. "We must begin to believe that God, in the mystery of prayer, has entrusted us with a force that can move the Heavenly world, and can bring its power down to earth." Andrew Murray

75. "...[the] power of prayer can never be overrated. They who cannot serve God by preaching need not regret. If a man can but pray he can do anything. He who knows how to overcome with God in prayer has Heaven and earth at his disposal." Charles H. Spurgeon

76. "Prayer is a spiritual law which cooperates with the mind of God. It has more in it than merely petition. It clothes itself in reality and power, with the force of God Himself. It is an attitude of spirit and mind. Language is secondary in true prayer." Gossner.

77. “What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use— men of prayer, men mighty in prayer"  E.M. Bounds

78. "Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work."  Oswald Chambers.

79. "It is not enough to begin to pray, nor to pray aright; nor is it enough to continue for a time to pray; but we must patiently, believingly, continue in  prayer until we obtain an answer;  George Müller

80. “Those persons who know the deep peace of God, the unfathomable peace that passeth all understanding, are always men and women of much prayer.” R. A. Torrey

81. “Prayer can never be in excess.” C. H. Spurgeon

82. “The trouble with nearly everybody who prays is that he says ‘Amen’ and runs away before God has a chance to reply. Listening to God is far more important than giving Him our ideas.” Frank Laubach

83. "Time spent in prayer will yield more than that given to work. Prayer alone gives work its worth and its success. Prayer opens the way for God Himself to do His work in us and through us. Let our chief work as God's messengers be intercession; in it we secure the presence and power of God to go with us." Andrew Murray

84.“Yes, worship of the loving God is man’s whole reason for existence.” A.W. Tozer

85. “The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.”  A.W. Tozer 

86. "We are too busy to pray, and so we are too busy to have power.  We have a great deal of activity, but we accomplish little; many services but few conversions; much machinery but few results."  R. A. Torrey

87. "Prayer is not learned in a classroom but in the closet."  E. M. Bounds

88. "Prayer is not monologue, but dialogue. God’s voice in response to mine is its most essential part." Andrew Murray

89. "Prayer is weakness leaning on omnipotence."  W. S. Bowd

90. "Our prayers lay the track down which God’s power can come. Like a mighty locomotive, his power is irresistible, but it cannot reach us without rails."  Watchman Nee

91. "Whole days and weeks have I spent prostrate on the ground in silent or vocal prayer."  George Whitefield (Great  Evangelist during American Revolution era, during the  First  Great  Awakening in  America)

92. "I ought to pray before seeing any one…Christ arose before day and went into a solitary place. David says: ‘Early will I seek thee’…I feel it is far better to begin with God-to see His face first, to get my soul near Him before it is near another." - Robert Murray M'Cheyne

93. "There is no power like that of prevailing prayer, of Abraham pleading for Sodom, Jacob wrestling in the stillness of the night, Moses standing in the breach, Hannah intoxicated with sorrow, David heartbroken with remorse and grief, Jesus in sweat of blood.  Add to this list from the records of the church your personal observation and experience, and always there is the cost of passion unto blood.  Such prayer prevails.  It turns ordinary mortals into men of power.  It brings power.  It brings fire.  It brings rain.  It brings life.  It brings God."  Samuel Chadwick

94. "The main lesson about prayer is just this: Do it! Do it! Do it! You want to be taught to pray. My answer is pray and never faint, and then you shall never fail…" John Laidlaw

95. "A man who is intimate with God will never be intimidated by men."  Leonard Ravenhill

96. "Prayer is the secret of power."  Evan Roberts

97. "Since the days of Pentecost, has the whole church ever put aside every other work and waited upon Him for ten days, that the Spirit’s power might be manifested? We give too much attention to method and machinery and resources, and too little to the source of power."  Hudson Taylor

98. "Where there is no vision of eternity, there is no prayer for the perishing."  David Smithers

99. "Prayer is buried, and lost and Heaven weeps.  If all prayed the wicked would flee from our midst or to the refuge." Evan Roberts

100. "Ministers who do not spend two hours a day in prayer are not worth a dime a dozen - degrees or no degrees."  Leonard Ravenhill

101. "Prayer is reaching out after the unseen; fasting is letting go of all that is seen and temporal. Fasting helps express, deepen, confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves to attain what we seek for the kingdom of God."  Andrew Murray

102. "All great soul-winners have been men of much and mighty prayer, and all great revivals have been preceded and carried out by persevering, prevailing knee-work in the closet."  Samuel Logan Brengle

103. "Out of a very intimate acquaintance with D. L. Moody, I wish to testify that he was a far greater prayer than he was preacher. Time and time again, he was confronted by obstacles that seemed insurmountable, but he always knew the way to overcome all difficulties.  He knew the way to bring to pass anything that needed to be brought to pass.  He knew and believed in the deepest depths of his soul that nothing was too hard for the Lord, and that prayer could do anything that God could do."  R. A. Torrey (Emphasis added)

104. "Prayer - secret, fervent, believing prayer - lies at the root of all personal godliness."  William Carey

105. The Word of God represents all the possibilities of God as at the disposal of true prayer." A. T. Pierson

106. "The essence of prayer does not consist in asking God for something but in opening our hearts to God, in speaking with Him, and living with Him in perpetual communion. Prayer is continual abandonment to God. Prayer does not mean asking God for all kinds of things we want; it is rather the desire for God Himself, the only Giver of Life, Prayer is not asking, but union with God. Prayer is not a painful effort to gain from God help in the varying needs of our lives. Prayer is the desire to possess God Himself, the Source of all life. The true spirit of prayer does not consist in asking for blessings, but in receiving Him who is the giver of all blessings, and in living a life of fellowship with Him." Sadhu Sundar Singh

107. “Closet communion needs time for the revelation of God’s presence.  It is vain to say, ‘I have too much work to do to find time.’  You must find time or forfeit blessing.  God knows how to save for you the time you sacredly keep for communion with Him.”  A. T. Pierson  (Emphasis added).

108. “Depend upon it, if you are bent on prayer, the devil will not leave you alone. He will molest you, tantalize you, block you, and will surely find some hindrances, big or little or both. And we sometimes fail because we are ignorant of his devices…I do not think he minds our praying about things if we leave it at that. What he minds, and opposes steadily, is the prayer that prays on until it is prayed through, assured of the answer.”  Mary Warburton Booth 

109. “I have seen many men work without praying, though I have never seen any good come out of it; but I have never seen a man pray without working.”  James Hudson Taylor

110. "It is in the field of prayer that life's critical battles are lost or won. We must conquer all our circumstances there. We must first of all bring them there. We must survey them there. We must master them there. In prayer we bring our spiritual enemies into the Presence of God and we fight them there. Have you tried that? Or have you been satisfied to meet and fight your foes in the open spaces of the world?"  J. H. Jowett

111. He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find Him the rest of the day. John Bunyan

112. "Prayer is the first thing, the second thing, the third thing necessary to a minister. Pray, then my dear brother; pray, pray, pray."  Edward Payson

113. "Each time, before you intercede, be quiet first, and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, and how He delights to hear the prayers of His redeemed people. Think of your place and privilege in Christ, and expect great things!"  Andrew Murray

114. "Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things 'above all that we ask or think.'"  Andrew Murray

115. "If we would pray aright, the first thing we should do is to see to it that we really get an audience with God, that we really get into His very presence. Before a word of petition is offered, we should have the definite consciousness that we are talking to God, and should believe that He is listening and is going to grant the thing that we ask of Him." R.A. Torrey

116.  "Ten minutes spent in the presence of Christ every day, aye, two minutes, will make the whole day different."  Henry Drummond

117. "Many Christians backslide...They are unable to stand against the temptations of the world, or of their old nature. They strive to do their best to fight against sin, and to serve God, but they have no strength. They have never really grasped the secret: The Lord Jesus will every day from heaven continue His work in me. But on one condition—the soul must give Him time each day to impart His love and his grace. Time alone with the Lord Jesus each day is the indispensable condition of growth and power."  Andrew Murray (Emphasis added).

118.  "Shut the world out, withdraw from all worldly thoughts and occupations, and shut yourself in alone with God, to pray to Him in secret. Let this be your chief object in prayer, to realize the presence of your heavenly Father."  Andrew Murray

119. "There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer."  A.T. Pierson

120. "Intercession is truly universal work for the Christian. No place is closed to intercessory prayer. No continent - no nation - no organization - no city - no office. There is no power on earth that can keep intercession out."  Richard Halverson

121. "Is air important to you?  Prayer is like breathing.  It brings life to the church.  We cannot live without it."  Morais

122. The man of prayer: "...his heart is ever lifted up to God, at all times and in all places. In this he is never hindered, much less interrupted, by any person or thing.  In retirement or company, in leisure, business, or conversation, his heart is ever with the Lord. Whether he lie down or rise up, God is in all his thoughts; he walks with God continually, having the loving eye of his mind still fixed upon him, and everywhere 'seeing Him that is invisible.' "   John Wesley (Evangelist) 

123. "Prayer brings to us blessings which we need, and which only God can give, and which prayer can alone convey to us...Prayer is simply asking God to do for us what he has promised us he will do if we ask him..."  Gerhard Tersteegen.

124. "I can just imagine Satan gathering all the demons in hell and discussing what they can do to destroy Christians. And Satan says, 'Keep them from praying. Because no matter what else they do, if they don't pray, we can beat them every time. But if they learn how to pray, they'll beat us every time. Keep them from praying.'"  Dr. Sidlow Baxter

125. "A prayerless family cannot be otherwise than irreligious. They who daily pray in their homes, do well; they that not only pray, but read the Bible, do better; but they do best of all, who not only pray and read the Bible,
but sing the praises of God." (1882)

 126. "Prayer brings to us blessings which we need, and which only God can give, and which prayer can alone convey to us ... This service of prayer is not a mere rite, a ceremony through which we go, a sort of performance. Prayer is going to God for something needed and desired. Prayer is simply asking God to do for us what he has promised us he will do if we ask him ... Asking is man's part. Giving is God's part. The praying belongs to us. The answer belongs to God."  Gerhard Tersteegen

127. On intercession: ”O Lord give me Scotland, or I die.” John Knox

 Note: It is reported that a number of people in Scotland reckon the John Knox quote as " Give me Scotland ere I die," i.e. "before I die," or, possibly, it may be that he said both.

128.  "A visitor in the [A.B.] Simpson home once discovered the secret to Simpson's great ministry. He happened to get up early in the morning and heard a noise in Simpson's study. The door was ajar so peeking in he discovered Simpson draped over a globe of the world sobbing as though his heart would break for the lost world."   From essay, A.B. Simpson and the "Business" of Healing

129.  Alexander Moody Stuart (1809-1898) - His three rules of prayer:

1. Pray till you pray.

2. Pray till you are conscious of being heard.

            3. Pray till you receive an answer.

130.  "Stop telling God how big your storm is. Instead, tell the storm how big your God is!"

131.  Charlie Crowe (your blogger) The radical growth of the early church can be directly attributed to the simple but powerful methodology the apostles described in Acts 6.4, “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the preaching ministry.”  They talked to God about people and they talked to people about God. 

An old car and a bad cup of coffee

My car is old and the coffee was bad.  But I felt that I just had to hold on to that cup of coffee.  I drive an older car, not really an antique, but one that is old enough that it was built before the invention of, or at least the application of, cup holders.  There isn’t a single cup holder in my car; nothing that can even vaguely be used as a cup holder.  Usually this is not a problem.  But last week I had a breakfast meeting and, after we finished, I got a cup of coffee to go.  This was bad coffee, not just generally bad, but a kind of uniquely bad cup of coffee.  The kind of coffee that if brewed to full strength would remind you of the smell of stale cigarette breath.  However, this coffee was brewed weak; so, it was the worst of all worlds.

After I took off from this meeting and got on the highway I discovered how bad this coffee was.  Now I have a problem.  I’m not going to litter and throw the cup out of the car.  If I try to pour it out the window, I could end up having it blow back into the car.  Being on a tight schedule, I didn’t want to take time to pull off the road to pour it out.  I tried to set it on the floor in front of the passenger seat, but I was afraid that a curve, quick stop, bump, or some other unforeseen event would spell disaster.  I thought about putting it between my legs, but the cup was a pretty flimsy cup.  So, I rode along holding a cup of coffee I didn’t want and from time to time absent-mindedly sipping bad coffee I didn’t want to drink.  Thankfully, after about half an hour, I came to a town and was forced to stop, so I tossed the coffee out.  

I sometimes feel I must hold on to things that are a real encumbrance to my emotional, personal, and spiritual wellbeing.  I hold on to them because if I hold them then some how I am in control.  If I am in control, then I can make sure everything is going to be okay. 

The feeling of control is like hold the coffee cup rather than letting it sit on the floor.  I feel like being in control is the only way to prevent disaster.  If I have control everything is going to be okay, right?  Trusting important matters to forces or people that are not under my control seems too risky.  But is it really that secure?   Will my holding the cup prevent bumps, curves, crazy drivers, (who are distracted by sipping good coffee), from coming my way?  Holding on to the cup or trying to have control gives an illusion of security, familiarity, and safety.  But my being in control is nothing more than the illusion of security.  In fact, my holding the cup of coffee may reduce my ability to drive and make me inherently more at risk.

Wanting to be in control is also like sipping bad coffee, in that I may want something better, but instead I just slowly drink the same old swill.  When I am trying to control people or circumstances, the possibility for real improvement in those people or circumstances is limited to my abilities to solve their problems.  I have linked myself to this miserable reality and as long as I try to stay in control I am bound to it and have to hold it.  If I don’t want the bad coffee, I just need to do what is necessary to put it down. 

So, if I am miserable, I need to ask myself what am I trying to control and what do I need to put down so I am less miserable.  There is no middle ground and half choices.  I have to let stuff go or I have to accept the misery of the attachments.  Here are a few things I have decided to let go.  Please understand I am on the front end of a lot of these things, so I am far from complete in this process.

Material possesions.  Recently, I have been wondering if I own the stuff or if the stuff owns me.  I started looking at stuff differently.  I tried to look at stuff as tenants or renters.  In exchange for me providing a place for them to live, they provide me services.  If what they provided in terms of service was un-needed or useless, I had to reconsider their rental agreement. 

Me: “So you want to live in my house for another year?  What payments are you offering?”

High school year book: “Once every 2 or 3 years, when you take me out, I will remind you of what life was like when you were 16 years old, the fun, laughter, and clubs, with profound reminders of rejections, insecurities, and the remarkable stupidity of some of your decisions.”

I did not renew the lease.

Maybe I lack adequate nostalgia, but the fact is, that if I had a tenant that offered nothing of value for the space they want to consume I would break the lease.  So, I have been purging of late.  Books that were cutting edge in the 1970’s, and trophies that have been meaningless for a long time.  Mementos from events I barely remember and cared about even less.   Even my high school letter, I sent to the quarter back club and suggested they put it in their trophy case.  BAHAHAHA.

I am still in process, but I don’t want my stuff to own me.

Ministry tools and concepts.  Elmer Towns said and perhaps he was quoting someone else, “Methods are many.  Principles are few.  Methods may change but principles never do.”  In our years of ministry, we developed our preferred methods, tools, and concepts that have at one time been very useful and productive.  But we can become so attached to these methods, we sacrifice effective ministry to be faithful and loyal to a certain way of doing ministry. 

I have known godly ministers that have waned in their effectiveness because they were unable to let certain methods go.  These were not bad pastors, but they failed to link their diminishing return of the ministry with tools and concepts that needed to be replaced. 

There are certain things I always loved to do in ministry.  But in this season of life I am spending time asking how effective these things were.  If I did them because I loved to do them, but they were not effective, then they need to be set aside.  I need to ask what are the principles that will never change and can be used in any culture and context and what are hand tools for the moment.   This may include a hard look at the methods associated with my own fellowship/denomination/tradition.  Because I was raised in a certain religious stream does not mean that religious stream must be exempt from careful scrutiny.  What if I find that the way I was brought up doing something, is a method and not a principle?  What if that method is not optimally effective; dare I consider breaking with a life long tradition?

Transportation is a principle buggy whips are a method.  I have determined to sell my buggy whips no matter how skillfully made or how useful it may have been.

Most importantly, I want to get rid of my emotional stuff.  I can, if I let myself, list the people who have hurt me and mistreated me and work up a lot of emotion about it.   I can list wounds, large and small, real and imagined, public and private that date back for decades.  I have a choice to carry those around.  I can sip the bitter swill of my injuries time and time again.  It is not a pleasant drink, but it is familiar.  I know who all the players are, who is in the right and who is in the wrong and how I can manipulate the circumstances for my advantage, or at least have a good pity party.  But, honestly, it isn’t much of a way to live; in fact, it sucks pretty bad.  I want to lay down all that garbage.  Not in a sense of denial, it never happened, nor in rationalization, pretending like it is no big deal.  It did happen and it was a big deal, but as long as I sip from that bitter cup I can have nothing else to drink.  And I want something better.

Reprise: With enough courage you can live without a reputation.  So here is where I find myself.  I am tired of being owned by my materialism, I want to be free from ineffective methodology even if it was the way I was raised, and I want to be free from the wounds, patterns, and the neurosis that have defined me. 

I realize that this kind of change will not be easy or quick.  I also realize I have a long way to go, further to go than I have come.  I realize that these kinds of changes can ruin a reputation.  But to quote Rhett Butler, “Scarlet, with enough courage you can live without a reputation.”