While many of us would agree that prayer is an essential part of the believer’s life, sadly it’s usually not the first place we turn when we experience hardship.  It’s our nature to turn to someone or something tangible, I think, when stuff hits the fan…we are more inclined to talk with a spouse, friend, or mentor.


When those aren’t available, we sometimes turn to something that brings us comfort or even an addiction to bring us down from the chaos that suddenly fills our minds.  This reality effects us individually, but has far reaching effects when you consider the exponential effect on all of us as we gather and form a local church community.  What is our community missing out on because of a lack of prayer? How many more people would God trust us to reach if we simply prayed more? These are important questions to ask…all the more for us doing ministry here in the USA.  An article titled: “The Least Attended Church Gathering” offers some good insight into this problem of prayer:

God has ordered things in His church in such a way that prayer is one of the foremost means by which He gives His people spiritual power and vitality for the advancement of His Kingdom through the preaching of the Gospel and the carrying out of deeds of love and mercy. So why does the church in the Western world fail so miserably at coming to the throne of grace in order to receive the grace and mercy needed on a daily and weekly basis (Heb. 4:16)?

Check out the full article HERE.