The Necessity of Prayer

“Prayer is the first thing, the second thing, the third thing necessary to a minister. Pray, then my dear brother; pray, pray, pray.” – Edward Payson

This week’s quote by Edward Payson reminds us that prayer is not an option or a luxury – it is a necessity. But too often, we think of everything else as a necessity, and we pray if we have time left over after everything else is done. But if Payson is right, and I believe he is, it is impossible for us to be faithful leaders apart from prayer. Prayer is the first thing we must do not the last resort.

We see this in the Scripture. As urgent as the mission before the church was, the disciples did not set out until they had labored in prayer until the Spirit came upon them at Pentecost. And throughout the New Testament, we often read how the church was devoted to prayer. In fact, of the 10 occurrences of the Greek word for “devoted” in the New Testament, half of them refer to the church being devoted to prayer! (See Acts 1:14; 2:42; 6:4; Romans 12:12; Colossians 4:2). The early church did not view prayer as optional, but as their very lifeblood. And the apostles viewed the whole calling as being devoted to the ministry of the Word and prayer! Nothing could be allowed to interfere with these things, for to fail here would be to fail everywhere. May God grant the same heart and passion to us!

May God meet us in our personal and corporate times of prayer, pouring out His Spirit and bringing revival, awakening, and reformation today!

In Christ,

Bret