This is the fourth in a series of seven posts explaining and applying GFA's seven core values. The first three posts highlighted the values of biblical, conservative, and expectant.
True prayer will hold a prominent position in the life of any follower of Christ who desires to grow in spiritual maturity and in service to the Lord. GFA’s fourth core value, prayerful, reflects our desire to make and keep prayer central both individually and as an organization.
Core Value #4—Prayerful: We express our dependence on God through prevailing prayer for the conversion of the lost, the success of His cause, and the sending of laborers for the harvest.
In our statement, prayer is an expression of our dependence on God. We must humbly recognize and acknowledge our own inability, sinfulness, and lack of wisdom and power. This conviction of our own helplessness will enable us to cast ourselves and all that concerns us onto the Lord. When we forget that He is the Builder and we are His tools, we tend to think and act as if everything depends on us. As a result, we can become anxious or prideful. But true prayer is the extension of empty hands, acknowledging with humility and joy that we have no strength or wisdom of our own. Without Christ, we can do nothing (John 15:5).
The task of missions is more than good strategizing, goal setting, administration, mobilization, fundraising, travel, and carefully managed logistics. We must pursue and practice sound missiology, cross-cultural expertise, faithful and fervent proclamation of the Gospel, careful teaching and discipling, and forward-looking mentorship of leaders. But in and of themselves these disciplines and activities will not result in the fulfillment of the Great Commission. We must never forget: This is war (Ephesians 6:10–20)! The god of this world has blinded people’s minds (2 Corinthians 4:4). They are captive to do his will (2 Timothy 2:25–26). We are utterly powerless to do anything truly effective. We must be faithful in the use of the means God has commanded, but we depend entirely on God for power. Prayer is our acknowledgement of weakness and our expression of absolute dependence on God. That is true on the personal level. It is true in our families. It is true in every kind of spiritual ministry. Prayer must be at the core.
Many Christians over the years have used the words prevailing prayer, found in our explanation of prayerful above. As far as we know, this expression is a reference to Jacob’s wrestling with God at Peniel. Jacob pledges, “I will not let you go unless you bless me” (Genesis 32:26, NASB). Later God says to Jacob, “You have striven with God and with men and have prevailed” (32:28, NASB). The idea behind the phrase prevailing prayer is that we truly lay hold of God in prayer and do not “let Him go” until we see His response.
We believe that God answers prayer! The petitions of His people are one of the means He has ordained for the accomplishment of His purposes in this world for His glory. God moves His kingdom forward through the prayers of His people. He saves sinners, transforms lives, sanctifies us, directs His people, provides for our needs, sends forth workers, and does countless other wonderful works in answer to prayer. So, we want to persevere in prayer for the conversion of lost people, the success of the cause of Christ, and the sending out of new laborers for the harvest fields of the world.
These two expressions dependence on God and prevailing prayer point to the immense difference between “saying prayers” and truly praying. Merely carrying out a good habit or mechanically getting through a list is not the same as walking with God and enjoying communion with Christ. We want our praise, confession, and petition to be a sincere pursuit of God Himself.
We long for the grace of God to have real, dependent, prevailing prayer at the center of who we are. In our more “routine” times, such as before meals or at the start of a meeting, in our times of personal ministry in counseling or one-on-one discipleship, in the classroom or clinic, in our families, and in our public ministries, we need to slow down and truly seek God’s face. Every time we pray, we must let that occasion be real, fresh communion with Christ, an expression of our dependence on God in prevailing prayer. We must have prayer at the core!