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“Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations?’” (Mark 11:17)
By Rev Dale Lee
The wolves are encircling the prayerless churches of God, ready to devour. Where once living bodies of Christians met for worship, now almost empty and in some cases abandoned buildings stand as painful reminders of the inevitable demise of prayerless churches. Even in Jerusalem, where the magnificent Temple of God once stood, which Jesus so loved, had zeal for, and speaks about in our text, there now stands a Moslem mosque and the Dome of the Rock, another Moslem edifice. The lack of prayer in the Temple of God hurt Jesus deeply. He grieved and was provoked to fiery anger. Yet, nothing it seems, ever moved the people to return to prayer. This, it is feared, is the case for many churches today. Nothing will convince them of the absolute priority of prayer, and prayer for the nations. If only the Church could realize the extreme privilege of prayer God has given us above all other peoples. Pastor Edward reminds us that the greater part of mankind are destitute of this privilege and have no one of power to call upon in times of need. Whatever their calamities, whatever their sorrows, whatever their necessities, they have no prayer-hearing God to call upon, no one to whom they can go. Most of the world worship either lifeless things that cannot help them, nor know they need help, or wicked, cruel spirits, who are their enemies, and wish nothing but their misery; and who, instead of helping them, are from day to day working their ruin, and watching over them as a hungry lion watches over his prey. The wolves are encircling every prayerless church and watching for their opportunity to devour God’s defenseless people. This is certainly no time in history to be self-centered, prayerless, tradition and religion bound, and filled with games and gimmickry. And if the church would begin to weekly intercede for Israel and the nations what a remarkable infusion of life and power there would be. But who is listening to these words? Jesus was not confused when He declared that His house will be a house of prayer for all nations. When the church forsakes real intercession we sentence ourselves to a slow, painful demise. Man can keep the lights on for a long while, but the decay and empty pews cannot be hidden. The church of the Lord Jesus must return to weekly intercession as the priority of their ministry. Every other ministry of the church will be infused with new life over time if they pray first. There are surely some churches who understand this. Must we wait until the wolves are encircling before we bend our knees at the church altar?