THE WATCHMAN'S PRAYER WALL

 

 What is a city without a wall?  As Jerusalem was vulnerable without its wall as a fortress against evil, so our church is vulnerable to the evils of this world without a wall – a Wall of Prayer.  It is no secret that God wants His people to pray.  We can all agree that prayer is essential to everything God wants His church to accomplish.  His word, the Bible, is filled with commands to pray, and we are blessed to be a church family of praying people.  However, let's take a moment to examine our personal prayer life.  How would we answer the following questions:

 

   1- How often do I pray?

   2-  What motivates my prayer life? Concern for others?  Concern for self?  Emergency?   

   3-  Do I long for God deeply enough to approach His throne of grace with all my prayers

        and requests?  

   4-  Am I willing to begin asking the Holy Spirit to pour Himself into my life?  Into the life

        of my church?

   5-  Am I eager for the Holy Spirit to manifest Himself to me in new and more powerful ways?

   6-  Am I willing to commit myself to continual, prayer? 

 

     Psalm 34:15 says, "The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their cry." Walking in a life of obedience to God through faith is something that we know is important.  It is the right way to live a Christian life.  We also know that living the Christian life is not easy.  We have learned through our study of "The Story" that Adam and Eve's original sin in the Garden of Eden caused us all to have a sin nature that separates us from God.  In the life of a believer, repentance is not a one-time event, but an ongoing part of our walk with God.  In order for us to realize God's blessing in our lives through prayer, we cannot live in disobedience to Him.  For our prayer life to be effective, we must open our heart and ask Him to clear away the sin and darkness that would hinder our communication with Him. 

 

     The challenge then becomes praying continually, enduring in prayer until the moment of favor comes when God does what He has promised to do. God never fails those who trust in Him!  He wants us to be confident that He is trustworthy and faithful and will answer us according to His perfect will.  The blessing of God is something very real, something tangible that can change a person's life, transform our neighborhoods, bring new life to our church, and even change the course of history.  

 

     In Genesis 4:26, God's word says, "At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord." The people of the day had begun to be shaped into two groups: 1) those who were indifferent to sin and evil, and 2) those who called on the name of the Lord.  Let us be found to be the latter of the two groups – a people who call on the name of the Lord.  In the words of Matthew 21:13, let this house, New Hope Baptist Church, "be called a house of prayer."

 

You have the opportunity to become part of New Hope's Wall of Prayer by choosing one hour a week to commit to prayer. You will receive a guide to help you grow in your prayer journey and information about how the Wall of Prayer can work in your life.  We often quote Jeremiah 29:11, but we don't read on to verse 12. Hear verses 11-12: " 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.' "  Let July 28th be the day that we begin to experience a breakthrough movement when we receive the help from a loving, prayer-answering God. There is no telling what God's people, New Hope Baptist Church, can do when God's people begin to pray.