LOST ART

Day 10 of 12-Day Devotions | 12 May 2021 | Paul Magno

In many ways, prayer and intercession is a lost art in Christian churches and families today. Many Christian churches have mastered the techniques of relevantly engaging culture, but have lost the art of faithfully engaging heaven through prayer and intercession.

Jesus called His house a House of Prayer (Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17). He was using 2 Old Testament references when He said, “My house shall be called the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.” These 2 references are Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11. In Isaiah 56:7, it speaks of being joyful in the House of Prayer. This experience of joy in prayer is lost to many Christians today — there is a deep joy that Christians individually and Christian churches corporately can experience in united, collective prayer. And where there is joy, there is strength and unity.

Paul the apostle commanded Timothy and the church in Ephesus to prioritize prayer and intercession. In 1 Timothy 2:1, Paul says, “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people.” The priority of the art of intercession is FIRST. It’s not a last minute, “hail Mary”-type of activity that we engage in when our backs are against the wall and we have lost all our options. Everything that God wants to do in and through Christian churches — especially the salvation of all people — is initiated in intercession, sustained in intercession, and completed in intercession.

Part of our aim in United Prayer is in helping Christians and Christian churches rediscover the supremacy of Paul’s command in 1 Timothy 2 and Jesus’ mandate/label over His house. The success of the Great Commission rests in our success in responding to 1 Timothy 2 and performing this LOST ART in many Christian churches — the art of intercession and prayer.

PRAY THIS:
Father, I pray that you awaken Christians all across our land to the call to prayer and to re-engage in the lost art of intercession. Holy Spirit, come and awaken our hearts to this crucial role, this core identity, and this lost skill. We cannot afford to be prayerless in this hour. Use our prayers and intercessions to extend your gracious, powerful and consistently good influence over our nation, so that the name of Jesus’ might be glorified in Australia. In His name we pray, amen.