We know from the scriptures that God was not pleased with the prayers of the scribes. (Luke 20:47) “Which devour widows houses, and for a show make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation.”

In (Luke 11:1) “one of His disciples said unto Him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” He taught them in (V 2-4). Jesus prayed often, and so the Apostle Paul in (I Thes. 5:17) instructs us to “pray without ceasing.” We find the prophets, the saints of old and the patriarchs all prayed. God has instructed us to make our requests known unto God, and in (James 4:2) He says, “ye have not because ye ask not.” Without taking any more space or time I think we can all agree that the scriptures teach us to pray, whether as individuals, or as a body of the Lord’s children, in His Church. I am convinced the apostolic mode of worship is singing of the songs of Zion, public prayer and preaching of the gospel.

I have been convinced over the years that (I Sam. 1:15) best describes what fervent prayer before God is. Eli, having accused Hannah of being drunken on wine as she prayed for a child (Samuel) she answered him (V15) ”And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord.” Children of God, I ask you to be charitable and pray for all those who come to Him in prayer, and especially those of the faithful in His Church, as you read of our efforts here.

During the past several years many of our churches suffered a decline in attendance, for various reasons. Some of the saints have been gone to their Long Home; and some are just not able to attend Church.

Being aware of these conditions and out of love for the Church and concern for Zion wherever she is, we as individuals always try to petition the Lord to keep her safe in His arms and bless her to prosper, when we pray. We find in so doing, we are most always blessed ourselves, with a measure of the Spirit of God in our services, and we try to thank Him for that blessing.

With these things in mind, a Church should always feel the need to apply itself before God, in prayer as a body. Our home Church recently set aside a 5th Sunday, for the specific purpose of prayer for the Church of God, for Zion wherever she is, and that the Lord might revive His spirit among His people in our community, and for the guidance of our nation and it’s leaders. I think we can all agree there is much need of prayer at this time.

I submit to you that there are precedents in the Bible and in the history of the Baptist to support this endeavor. We feel that such is not introducing some new practice but reviving an old one that we have let slip away. You will find in Burkett and Reads History of the Kehukee Assosciation, as well as Hassel’s History that the Baptist met at times to pray for a specific causes. We also find that God answered many of their prayers.

When Nehemiah was in Shushan the palace, where he was captive, some of his brethren came and he inquired of his brethren about the Jews that had escaped the capture and about Jerusalem. (Neh. 1:3) “And they said unto me, the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the walls of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.” (V 4) “And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of Heaven.” We all as Nehemiah, weep sometimes over our Churches when we see them getting smaller for various reasons. We love them as Nehemiah loved his brethren and Jerusalem. Even the King asked Nehemiah “why is thy countenance sad seeing thou art not sick?”

Yet, Nehemiah took his plea before the Lord in prayer, and we only have to read the book of Nehemiah to see to what extent the Lord answered his prayers thru Kings and magistrates and prospered his work over all his enemies.

Are we not compelled, as a people to believe; if we all apply ourselves to prayer without ceasing that God will hear the crying out of His people and will bless our beloved Zion to prosper spiritually and will send us labors to labor in the field for truly the harvest is white.