The Moment I Wake Up...
I like English muffins. Do you know what goes well with muffins? Tea. I quite like tea also. Do you know the best time to consume tea and muffins? Mornings. Mornings just seem sunnier when you have a cup of tea and a muffin. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 8am a bunch of Christian students meet together at Uni, at the lounge area in building 11. While we’re together we have tea, muffins, and even jam. But these aren’t the reasons we meet up. For what other reason would someone get to Uni early? We meet together to pray for God to be at work at Uni, bringing people into his kingdom.
But why do we pray? The single most important element of evangelism is the gospel isn’t it? If we want people to become Christians we need to tell them the gospel. They need to hear about the God who created them and owns them, and their rebellion against Him. They need to hear about God’s mercy and amazing grace shown through Jesus their rightful king. But what is the other single most important element of evangelism?
Prayer.
In his letter to the Colossian church, Paul says “[1] Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.” Paul wants God’s people in to pray for him in his endeavor to proclaim the gospel. Paul is one of the most prolific evangelists the world has ever seen. He planted churches all over the first century world, yet here he is asking for prayer. He knew that even though he was an apostle, and someone who received direct revelation from God – the work he did wasn’t really his – it was God’s. If we were to rate ourselves on an evangelism scale from ‘1’ to ‘Paul’ I don’t think we would rate all that highly – so how important must prayer be for us in our attempts to share the gospel with our friends or family!
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus also gives us an insight into evangelism. “[2] The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” In this verse Jesus is directly talking about praying for people who will be able and willing to take the gospel to the world. But notice the title He gives to God the father – the Lord of the harvest. It is God’s harvest coming directly from God’s field. He is the one in charge. He is in control. So without God being at work what will happen? Nothing. This is shown even more clearly by Paul in his letter to the Corinthian church. “[3] I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.” It doesn’t matter how much effort you put into planting a seed, or how much effort you put into watering that seed you can not make it grow. My great grandmother used to take great care of her garden and would even talk to her flowers to help them grow. While her flowers did flourish, she did not cause the growth.
Prayer is such an amazing thing. Through it we can be actively involved in God’s work for God’s kingdom all over the world. As fantastic as this is, it doesn’t end here. Through prayer we can also bring our personal fears and worries to our loving heavenly father. Paul says (he really does have a lot to say about prayer) “[4] Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” While this is a passage that many people may be familiar with, we so often lose sight of its awesomeness. We don’t have to be anxious about anything. Nothing: no assignment, no test, no bill. Nothing. We can and should bring all our concerns and worries before our great and awesome God with full assurance of Him hearing us and having genuine concern for us. Alongside that, we should remember God’s great mercy towards us, and bring our thanks and praises before him in prayer too.
Prayer is an essential part of Christian life. If we want to see God at work through us in bringing our friends and family into his kingdom, we need to pray, and be devoted to prayer. This isn’t always easy. This is why it is so good to meet with other Christians to pray and encourage each other as brothers and sisters talking to our heavenly father. Can you think of a better way to start a busy day at uni than to meet up with God’s people right here at UOW and pray – pray for ourselves, pray for the lost, pray for God’s kingdom, and pray for God’s work in God’s world, oh, and eat a muffin?
By Brian Barker
[1] – Colossians 4:2-4
[2] – Luke 10:2
[3] – 1 Corinthians 3:6
[4] – Philippians 4:6-7
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