What If

Dr. Ray Pritchard
Dr. Ray Pritchard is the president of Keep Believing Ministries, an Internet-based ministry serving Christians in 225 countries. He is the author of 29 books, including Stealth Attack, Fire and Rain,… More

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Updated May 16, 2009

Years ago I read a book by Charlie Shedd called “The Exciting Church: Where People Really Pray.” I have forgotten everything in the book except the story of a young man who was newly elected to the board of the church where Charlie Shedd served as pastor. That young man asked a very simple question:

“What do you think Christ wants this church to be?”

From that question came a second one:

“What would happen in our congregation if every member was prayed for every single day by someone?”

Charlie Shedd said, “That night he stopped us in our tracks.” The rest of the book is the answer to that question.

And what a question. We all believe in prayer, don’t we? Even if we don’t pray very much, we still believe in prayer. So what would happen in our churches if every day every member was prayed for by someone?

What would it do to our worship?
What would it do to our preaching?
What would it do to our ministries?
What would it do to our evangelism?
What would it do to our relationships?

Our churches wouldn’t be the same if we made sure every person was prayed for every day by someone.

What if we started to pray like that?

So what would happen in your church if we prayed like that? Hold that thought and we’ll come back to it later. In the meantime we need to see what was on Paul’s mind in Ephesians 6. As he nears the end of his magnificent letter, he calls Christians to put on the whole armor of God so that we can fight and win the spiritual battles we face every day (vv. 10-17). Then without any break he says, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests” (v. 18). In the School of Christian Living, this is Prayer 101. This is the “how to” not the “why” of prayer. There is nothing difficult to understand in what he writes.

It’s easy to see how this fits in the context. Prayer is our ultimate weapon in spiritual warfare. It is not part of the armor; it is that which makes the armor effective. In verse 18 Paul gives five fundamental facts about Christian prayer.

You can read the entire article here.

You can reach the author at ray@keepbelieving.com. Click here to sign up for the free weekly email sermon.