Be Fervent in Prayer
Fervent, aggressive prayer yields amazing results!
Perhaps one difference between the prayers of the earliest Christians and the prayers of today’s church; they prayed fervently, aggressively, seriously and with great intensity. They had too! Their very survival depended on it. The heat of resistance was prevalent in the first century. Persecution was real!
For example: Acts chapter 4 tells us that Peter and John were put in prison by a religious sect known as the Sadducees for preaching a gospel that declared the resurrection. The rulers in Jerusalem got together, questioned them, threatened them, and then let them go. What did they do? They called a prayer meeting and prayed for boldness (verse 29). What was the result of that prayer meeting? Verse 31 – 33 tells us that God granted them favor.
Acts chapter 12 tells us that King Herod had James executed and sought to persecute the Christians. Because some were pleased with this course of action, he had Peter arrested also. But fervent prayer went up from the church on Peter’s behalf (verse 5) and what happened? The angel of the Lord came and broke Peter out of jail!
Then there was Nero, the Roman Emperor from 54 to 68 A.D.. This guy was a real piece of work. He had his mother executed! Nero was no friend of Christians. Historians tell us that he had captured Christians set on fire to light his gardens at night. Many believers who were hunted down by Nero’s police, were used as sport and fed to wild beasts during events at the coliseum in Rome. Most believe that the Apostle Paul was tortured by Nero and eventually beheaded in Rome.
You see, fervent aggressive prayers were a necessity for the Christians in the first century. It was a matter of survival, sometimes a matter of life or death, so they prayed, they cried out to God for one another. They prayed for courage and for boldness in the midst of severe persecution.
Perhaps our situation is different in that our lives are not threatened on a daily basis, however, we too have an adversary (the Devil himself) with more hatred for the Christian than Nero. Do we not need to pray in our evil day? May God help us to pray fervently, aggressively, and with great intensity and power. What more motivation do we need?
Pastor Bruce Freeman
Comments
Post a Comment