February 21, 2023
Challenging Others To Pray
Nehemiah - “After the wall was finished and I had set up the doors in the gates, the gatekeepers, singers, and Levites were appointed.” (Nehemiah 7:1
DAILY DEVOTION
When the walls around Jerusalem were finally finished and the doors were in place, Nehemiah made sure that the gatekeepers, singers, and Levites were ready to fulfill their positions. Why? Because these positions were necessary for the worship of God to continue at the temple. Nehemiah understood that he had to raise the commitment level of the Jewish people, and what better way could he do this than to engage them in worship and prayer.
When we’re leading others, we can easily assess their dedication to the Lord and to the project team by observing their commitment to prayer. If we’re fully engaged in a project for the Lord, we’re going to be praying about it. Jesus would agree because he said that, “Men ought always to pray.” (Luke 18:1) In the book of James, we learn that “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” (James 5:16). Charles Spurgeon once said, “The power of prayer can never be overrated. They who cannot serve God by preaching need not regret. If a man can but pray, he can do anything. He who knows how to overcome with God in prayer has Heaven and earth at his disposal.”
In his book titled Grow: Deepen Your Relationship with Christ, author Joel Comiskey shares about a time when he experienced a group of people who were committed to prayer.
He writes: “I’ll never forget that Monday morning in Seoul, Korea in April 1997 when I took a bus to Prayer Mountain, a former cemetery converted into a mountain of prayer. An estimated 10,000 people pass through this prayer mountain every week. The Yoido Full Gospel Church has carved hundreds of caves into the side of this mountain for the purpose of prayer. It was exciting to walk by the prayer caves and hear the cries of God’s people ascending to His throne… These Korean believers reminded me of Epaphras, a person who Paul said, “is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. (Colossians 4:12) The word ‘wrestle’ in this verse literally means to fight or struggle… Compared to these Korean Christians, my prayer life was half hearted. I left Korea inspired to strengthen the fervency of my prayer life.”
Those Joel Comiskey encountered in prayer that day were totally bought into what was going on at Yoido Full Gospel Church. We can know that for sure because of their commitment to prayer. If we want to build faithful and passionate teams, we will be constantly praying and will be continually challenging our team members to pray.
FOLLOW UP ACTIVITY
When was the last time you challenged your team members, your family, your group of friends, or your Life Group to be more fully committed to prayer? Write out a plan for how you can do that in the next few days. Then, pray and ask the Lord to help you move forward with your plan. If you are leading your family through this devotion time, challenge each member (including yourself) to move to the next level in their prayer lives. Then pray, asking the Lord to help your family reach out to Him in prayer on a deeper level.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Lord, help me to be a person of prayer and to always challenge others to pray to You faithfully. In Jesus’ name, Amen.