The Greatest Need of Every Hour
Acts 1:14
"These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren."
I was talking to a friend of mine one day about the problems that churches face when he asked me what was wrong with the churches of today. There is no doubt that churches, whether big or small, face huge problems. My response was that too many churches have left the prayer closet and started doing everything under their own power and wisdom. This lack of prayer has led to sin in the church and results that are not lasting.
The church in the Book of Acts understood the importance of prayer. Not many days after Jesus ascended to Heaven you will find the church was in the upper room praying for God's power to fall upon them. Throughout the Book of Acts you find the theme of the church was prayer. In their time of need they went to God in prayer, and in the time of success, as seen in the verse above, they continued in prayer. They didn't stop praying when success came, but they continued to pray.
The greatest need of this hour is prayer. Nothing is a substitute for prayer. You may have all the wisdom, but without prayer your wisdom will not give the results it should give. You can preach strongly against sin, but without prayer sin will continue to run rampant in the church. You can have the knowledge of how to build a church, but without prayer the results of growth will be temporary. You will never experience what God intended for you to experience without prayer.
Why is it that prayer has been neglected? The reason its been neglected is because it takes work to pray. There are many things in the Scriptures that are easily followed, but prayer is one of those things that takes work. The reason it takes work is because you are entering a spiritual warfare every time you enter your prayer closet. Yes, you may be regular in your Bible reading, but you will find it is easy to read the Bible once you start, whereas praying never becomes easy. Winning people to Christ can become something of habit, but you will find that prayer will be the hardest thing to make a habit. Prayer is so easily neglected because of the work it takes to pray.
Let me challenge you in this devotional not to neglect your prayer life. A prayer life will give you the power you need to face your daily life. A prayer life will give you the strength to overcome sin's temptation. A prayer life will give you the energy you need to keep going during life's toughest times. Your prayer life is imperative to the health of your spiritual well-being.
Christian, you must daily schedule a time to pray if you are going to be successful in this area. Furthermore, you must not allow anything to take you from your time of prayer. The greatest need in your life is prayer. Moreover, be sure to continue in prayer when you see success. Make prayer a staple of your life. There are some things you may cut back on in your life, but never cut back on prayer.