You Guys Pray?

"Allahu Akbar", heard from mobile phones scattered throughout the meeting room we attended, reminded listeners of one of the five prescribed Muslim prayer times. They serve as constant reminders.

Muslims ask "Do Christians pray?" It's their honest question. Some Christian agencies discourage using the word prayer in communication with overseas workers. But isn't this is the very thing we'd want Muslims to know--that we are people of prayer...so that they can come to us for prayer in Jesus name?

Here's a story of one Christ follower who really believed in prayer. "Give me Souls, O God, or I die! That was the plea of John Hyde...

John left for India. Aboard ship, he opened a letter from a friend who wrote that he would pray until John was filled with the Holy Spirit. Angrily John crumpled the letter and hurled it aside. He had yielded his heart to the Lord, gotten his degree, studied Indian languages and was obediently on his way to a life work. How dare his friend suggest he lacked the Spirit? But when he cooled down, he realized that his friend was right. He pleaded for the power of the Holy Spirit.

The result was that John became a notable intercessor, one who pleads for the souls and needs of others. He was nicknamed "Praying Hyde". He often paid for his concern with sleepless nights.

Revival began when he came late to a meeting one evening. "I have been having a great controversy with God. I feel that he has wanted me to come here and testify to you concerning some things that he has done for me, and I have been arguing with him that I should not do this. Only this evening...have I got peace concerning the matter and have I agreed to obey him, and now I have come to tell you just some things that he has done for me." John told them how God had freed him from certain sins. Soon his listeners were weeping and confessing their own.

In 1908, anguished by the sight of sin and souls doomed to hell, he asked the Lord to bring a soul a day into the kingdom of God. Soon he upped that to two souls, and then four. God answered his prayers." (source)

I was at a pastors' and leaders' prayer meeting recently. One fellow in my group makes his mission to encourage vibrant prayer meetings. After ministering for years in Africa where he saw little fruit, he finally decided to pray. His ministry was revolutionized. This resonates with a prominent Mission Agency who made "By Prayer' their motto.

‘How do we encourage more prayer?’ Someone suggested “create an app”! Muslims already thought of that!

Prayer meetings with lofty long prayers can be drab. Recently I reread Rosalind Rinker's Prayer, Conversing with God. "Prayer is a dialogue between two persons who love each other."(the back cover). This concept has revolutionized many Christians' prayer life. It brought new life to prayer meetings.

Better still, make it a part of life. Perhaps it will be most sustainable if linked to a prayer partner. My wife and I seldom start out regular activities of the day without a dedicated time of Bible reading and prayer. We’ve seen answers to prayer. God is listening.

Lord, teach us how to pray.