The Reach of Prayer

Great Bible believing prayer knows no boundary. The Apostles of the New Testament church knew the reach of prayer and refused to be sidelined in administration matters. They gave themselves to “prayer and to the ministry of the word.” (Acts 6:4) Schemes of religion were anathema to them. They abhorred any idea of human craftiness to promote the Kingdom. The Lord had given them powerful promises and their entire confidence was anchored in the Lord’s words and examples. Had not the Lord spoke “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19) It was powerful, Bible believing prayer that made the book of Acts church invincible and earned for them the reputation: “…These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.” (Acts 17:6b)

I have been overwhelmed for several weeks with a great Biblical statement in PaulÂ’s words to the Corinthian church. This statement shows the “reach of prayer” in graphic terms. Read every word carefully. “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:1-2)

The word “prayer” does not surface in these words, but the “reach of prayer” actually dominates the entire passage. The very term “this ministry” was an expression of surrender to the heart of the New Testament Gospel. Two things dominated what the Bible calls “ministry”. It was not building churches, creating humanistic methods of inducing people to come to the church house or laying plans for evangelism. It was “prayer and the preaching of the Word.” That was their plan for evangelism, and it was irresistible. When Paul said, “we faint not” he was saying there was no lack of mighty prayer and the proclamation of the Word of God. When I read statistics of today’s ministers and their prayer lives, my soul aches with sorrow. There will be no revival until we relearn the “reach of prayer.”

The second verse in this text of the Apostle Paul is sheer dynamite of truth. He said that they had “renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully.” What was this Apostle saying? There was no slick method of promotion being fed into that church setting by para-church money-makers. The devilish psychology of our day was unknown. The Pharisees and Sadduccees had certainly flooded the Jewish system with human design but Jesus drove them out of the temple with a whip. Paul was making it plain that they needed no progressive thinkers or new methods to meet new demands. He was refusing to make the Gospel conducive to new ways of thinking or to conform it to modern schemes.

Then, Paul gave them the heart of the New Testament’s principles of saving the world. He said, “…but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” Reaching the conscience of men has to be one of the most powerful thoughts we may consider. That’s the “reach of prayer”. We can reach a man’s mind with great thoughts and we can intrigue his emotions with the right heart-rending story but reaching his conscience is another matter. The conscience of this generation is being left mostly untouched by our beautiful schemes of religion. Books by the millions about religion are presently touching our nation and our churches and its not all bad. Some of it is actually awakening the hearts of people to truths like the coming Rapture.

But the greatest need is to learn anew the “reach of prayer.” When your heart and soul is moved to Holy Ghost anointed praying, the power of your praying does not end in your prayer closet. The power of the Gospel rides the wings of prayer. Yes, I know that this is the ministry of the Spirit, but the Holy Spirit partners with the praying saint. The Bible never separates preaching and praying. If you do not pray longer than you preach, your preaching will be ineffective as concerning the conscience. Three hours of praying is a fair margin for one hour of preaching. Preaching or teaching without prayer may stir emotions depending on the emotions of the preacher, but it will leave the heart and conscience unaffected. That is where the present church lives today and our world is mostly unmoved. A great sermon without prayer will make men love the preacher. A great sermon with great prayer will make men love the Savior.

The souls of all mankind were created by the Creator and there is an undying linkage between every one of us. My lips can touch your ears. My thoughts can move your emotions but my heart and soul can reach your heart and soul. God’s people must learn the power of prayer saturated with the Word to reach the conscience or soul of this generation. When you travail, sons and daughters will be born into the Kingdom. God has ordained that praying is the church’s first business and all the rest of our business is helpless if we do not know the “reach of prayer.”