By Dr. Gene Henderson

The disciples of Jesus only asked him to teach them one thing - to pray. 

“One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

Luke 11:1

Why did they ask him to teach them to pray? Perhaps, it was because they saw how consistent Jesus was in praying, and they also saw the power in his life that came from prayer. Prayer was obviously a priority in the life of Jesus. It needs to be a priority in our lives as well. 

Prayer was a priority in the life of the early church. In fact, the Apostles declared that prayer was one of their two priorities.

“But we will devote ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.”

Acts 6:4

Their praying resulted in many miracles recorded in the book of Acts. Paul identified the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” and prayer as the two chief weapons for Christ-followers in confronting spiritual warfare.

Prayer needs to be a priority in the church and our lives today. Unfortunately, prayer is a neglected spiritual discipline for many in the church today. As First Baptist Starkville launches a new church year, the focus is going to be on prayer. Jesus and the writers of Scripture had much to say about prayer. We can learn much from their words and their example. In the coming weeks, the messages each Sunday will focus on how Jesus taught his disciples to pray. We will study in-depth the Model Prayer (often called The Lord’s Prayer). Jesus taught the disciples how to approach God in prayer and how to pray for all of their needs. In his instructions, Jesus was not teaching them what to pray, but he gave them principles to guide their praying. His principles are to direct us as we pray as well. 

Prayer is the power source for the church and Christ-followers. It was because of his time with his Father in prayer that Jesus received the wisdom and strength he needed to overcome the temptations in his life and to accomplish his mission. He promised the early church power.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Acts 1:8

The Apostles did receive that power, and they exercised it in performing signs to confirm the Gospel message Jesus had given them: they spoke in different languages, they were freed from prison, they healed people, they exorcized demons, and they raised people from the dead. Prayer was the catalyst for all these demonstrations. They spent ten days in prayer before the power of Pentecost came.

“These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.”

Acts 1:14

The early church continued to pray fervently, and God continued to affirm His presence and power with them.

Where is God’s power today? God has not changed. He is just as powerful and capable today as He was in the early church. Are we failing to experience God’s power because we are failing to pray? Or, are we failing to pray as God has directed us? It is obvious that we need divine help, and that is why we are focusing on prayer in the weeks and months ahead. The COVID-19 pandemic is far beyond our ability to handle by ourselves. The racial tensions and violence in our streets make us feel so helpless and hopeless. These issues are not bigger than God. He can handle them. When we pray, we open the way for God to do extraordinary things. The best thing we can do as we face these challenges is to seek the face and heart of God. In our individual lives, we face various challenges that are also beyond our control. Through prayer, we invite God to come and take control. He can supply all of our needs, and He can bring good from even the worst situations as we trust Him. We can do many things after we pray, but we should not do anything before we pray. 

It is important to learn all we can about prayer, but it is equally important that we put into practice what we learn. One of the best ways to learn is by doing. Each of us is responsible for our own personal prayer life. The time and depth we actually devote to prayer will be evidenced in our daily life. The greater our prayer life, the greater our joy and effectiveness in life.

Prayer needs to be practiced by the church body. First, we need to be in prayer for one another. If you open our church app or visit fbcstarkville.com/pray, you’ll see options to submit prayer requests and to view prayer requests. When you fill out the form to submit a prayer request, you can even check a little box so that you’ll receive an email everytime someone clicks the “I Prayed” button on your prayer request. 

Second, the Prayer Room is open and equipped for those who want to pray. The Prayer Room is on the third floor of Applegate in room 317 and is open anytime the church office is open. Volunteers are needed to staff the Prayer Room each Sunday during the 8:30 am and 11:00 am worship services. If you want to be a Prayer Room volunteer, you can contact Kim Ware in the church office or fill out the sign-up sheet located in the Prayer Room.

Our church body needs to also be in prayer for our community. We have created an opportunity for you to adopt an educator, administrator, or staff member from our public and private schools. If you would like to adopt one of our educators to pray for over this semester, go to fbcstarkville.com/pray and click the “I Want To Pray For Schools” button. You’ll receive the name, contact information, and prayer requests from one of our educators. We encourage you to reach out to them, let them know you are praying for them, and brighten their day. Our Prayer Coordinators, Melita Tomlinson and Sarah Nicholas, will also be checking in and encouraging you to pray for your teacher.

We will also have three opportunities to prayer walk different neighborhoods in and around Starkville. Teams will work together to pray for every house in the neighborhood and leave a prayer door hanger to indicate that the family has been prayed for. The door hanger also gives information about First Baptist Starkville and invites them to worship with us. The prayer walks are scheduled for September 13, October 4, and November 1 at 4:00 pm and you’ll hear more information about those as the dates draw near.

Finally, we want to be praying and asking God to lead His man to FBC Starkville to serve as pastor. The Search Committee has requested diligent prayer for themselves and for the man God has for the church. Whenever God answers our prayers for the new pastor, the pastor will need continued prayer as he seeks to know God’s will and vision for the church. Some things may change when the new pastor comes, but the need for prayer will always be prevalent.