Prayer MATTERS! An Email to Our Church

The following is an email I sent out to our Perry Baptist Church family yesterday (Monday). Only after writing it did I feel it might serve a broader purpose if posted on this site. May the God of all Power and Comfort raise up a strong prayer effort in his people everywhere against this sinful attack against the Lord of Life!

Dear Fellow Pilgrims:

The 14th Annual Life Chain will be held in Perry on Oct.4, 2009 from 2-3 p.m. Meet at our church parking lot at 1:45 p.m. for prayer together before standing along Rt 39 for prayer against evil, specifically the evil hearts of this nation that conceived the evil solution to slaughter babies! And pray as well for those who've suffered such degradations in their own bodies. 

IS YOUR PRAYER INSIGNIFICANT?

We must “speak up” against this slaughter of the helpless unborn! Don’t think that your standing on a street in a small town like Perry has no effect. “Despise not the day of small things,” God told Zechariah when it came to time to re-build the post-Babylonian destruction, seemingly insignificant temple (Zechariah 4:10). How could it compare to the awesome grandeur of Solomon's temple?

Compared to the man-power of much larger cities and Washington, D.C. mega-crowds, we in rural Perry may imagine we have little with which to fight. But that is simply NOT TRUE! Moses’ prayer saved the entire nation of Israel from destruction! (Ex. 32:9-14, esp. 14). Isaiah’s prayer brought on the destruction of the invading Assyrians to the tune of 185,000 men! (Isaiah 37) Prayer’s effect does not hinge on OUR numbers but on the ONE to whom we cry out! Listen to what the LORD told Isaiah right after he had prayed, “For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David” (Is. 37:35). Don't miss that. “I WILL DEFEND THIS CITY,” and “FOR MY OWN SAKE.” The key is not found in the voice of the one praying, but in the power of the God being prayed TO! Let us NOT allow Satan to tempt us to cease praying because we are not big names like Moses or Isaiah! That’s an evil ruse he uses all too frequently and, apparently, with too much success. Let us have faith in God and not faith in the evil one!

I would like to see every person in the church gathered together (IN FAITH) to stand along the road and simply call out to God quietly. Remember what God told the prophet Zechariah to tell Zerubbabel (the one building the temple), “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the LORD of hosts” (4:6). The LORD is telling us, "Do not despise the day of small things because victory or success have nothing to do with your position, but everything to do with my mighty power and effective Spirit!"

God stir us up and bless us all as we labor together for those who cannot defend themselves, and for God who gives to all men life and breath and everything else!

Pastor Dave