Dependence and Prayer

When I was recently ordained as an elder at New Hope (allowing me to serve in more capacities as Intern Pastor), one of the charges given me was to “pray continually for the church.” This is a good reminder, and I’m also grateful for New Hope’s dedicated prayer team, meeting every Wednesday to intercede for the congregation and its mission.

Prayer is work—and central to all work. In the call to pray, we are reminded where the power to transform lives ultimately comes from: It’s not our words or programs or personality that ultimately grow the Church; it’s the Living God working through us—weak as we are.

And perhaps, as we begin to recognize more and more what it means to be called to serve in the Church (as any Christian is called to use their gifts), we will be driven more and more to prayer. We aren’t called just to preach a skillfully-delivered and amusing sermon, or just to sit in on a meeting and manage the church’s budget, or just to take an evening and visit someone in the hospital; in all these activities we are called to point others to the King of the Universe, God’s own Son, Jesus Christ.

This is rightly intimidating, for we cannot do this on our own ability. So when we rightly estimate the weight of our calling, we grow in seeing our dependence on God. And that sense of dependence is fertile soil for prayer. It is ultimately on God’s shoulders to bring the growth; we are called to dependent faithfulness—expressed in fervent prayer and obedience.