Prayer Is Our Fuel In Ministry

Robert Murray McCheyne, the great 19th century Scottish pastor, once said that a man is what he is on his knees before God and nothing more. This is true of every man, but in particular, how true this is of pastors.

The idea of a “prayer-less pastor” should be an oxymoron. And yet, I’m afraid all too often this description is more accurate than we would like to admit. Prayer can often take a back seat to all the other “stuff” of ministry. I mean after all, there are sermons to write, hospital visits to be made, classes to teach, leaders to develop, worship services to be planned, the list goes on and on. And while we probably know that prayer should be at the top of the list of what needs our time and attention each week, it is often bumped to the bottom of the priority list. As a result, we begin to do ministry on the fuel of our own strength and abilities rather than the strength and ability of God. Of course, it’s just a matter of time before that fuel runs out.  

Here's the truth, for a while in ministry, you and I might be able to lean on our own gifting and passion and zeal. But at some point, it becomes very clear that our gifting is limited. Our passion and zeal is not enough. We realize we are in desperate need for God to move and we are completely dependent on His power, not ours.

In coming to this reality, the Lord graciously opens our eyes and heart to see and feel our need for surrendered, desperate, persistent prayer. Not to simply give lip service to the importance of prayer, but we begin to truly believe in the depths of who we are that without prayer we are absolutely powerless. This is His grace at work in us. I’m convinced more than ever that dependent prayer has been and always will be the most important discipline and practice for every pastor in the local church. Without it, we truly are weak and ultimately incapable.

Several years ago, a friend introduced me to a book by an old Methodist-Episcopal pastor named E.M. Bounds. He wrote a book in 1913 called, Power through Prayer. This was a profound book for me as I hadn’t before read an author so zealous for prayer in the life of the believer. The implications of Bound’s book were massive, not only for my life with God, but for my ministry. There’s a particular paragraph from the book that has stuck with me for years. I come back to this short paragraph regularly to be reminded and convicted of my deep need to become a pastor marked by passionate, persistent prayer. Bounds says:

“What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use – men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men – men of prayer.”[1] 

When I first read this paragraph I thought, “God, make me that kind of man! Make me the kind of pastor that’s on fire for you and your purposes, by your Holy Spirit, through prayer. Make me prayerfully dependent on you in all things.” I became convinced in a new and fresh way that this kind of prayer is desperately needed in every church, including mine.

If God is going to move, if God is going to bring the spiritually dead back to life, if God is going to breathe life and fresh passion into towns and communities through local churches, then we need pastors that are going to fall on their faces in prayer. But here’s the thing, it’s not only that pastors must be passionate about and committed to prayer, but priority #1 must be that we lead our congregations to be men and women of prayer. We need churches made up of praying people.

[1] E.M. Bounds, Power through Prayer (Atlanta: GA: Trinity Press, 2012), 6.