Prayer sounds simple, but it’s hard. Jesus tells His followers to ‘ask…seek…knock’ in line with God’s will and they will receive, find and have doors opened (Luke 11). Amid the busyness of life and its distractions though, we all too easily don’t ask, seek or knock. We make our plans, we plough through our to-do lists and rely on our strengths and abilities when, ironically, they’re God-given!
‘I have so much to do today that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.’
In many churches, prayer meetings are poorly attended. We leave prayer for the keen people, the ones who have more time on their hands. The words of Martin Luther pose a challenge to us all: ‘I have so much to do today that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.[1]’
How do we respond to such a challenge? Indeed, how do we respond to God’s commands to ‘…pray without ceasing…’ (1 Thess. 5:17), to ‘…[pray] at all times in the Spirit…’ (Eph. 6:18)? Do we pull our socks up and try harder? Do we wallow in guilt over our faltering prayer lives? I would suggest that neither of these approaches are helpful!
In A Praying Life, Paul E. Miller writes, ‘You don’t need self-discipline to pray continuously; you just need to be poor in spirit.[2]’
As we recognise that our spiritual bank accounts are empty, that we are spiritually skint, we are reminded of how great it is that God sent Jesus to die for our failings. But we are also reminded of how much we need the Lord’s help in all things and amazingly, He gives it to us:
‘We recognise that our spiritual bank accounts are empty, that we are spiritually skint’
‘I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth’
At SASRA, we recognise that our help comes from the LORD and so we want to prioritise prayer. Without Him, we are nothing, ‘Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain…’ (Ps. 127:1). And so, as we strive towards our goal of reaching every man and woman of the British Army and the RAF with the gospel during their time in uniform, we want to first of all, pray.
Grace Church Catterick helped to facilitate the 12-hour prayer event. ©SASRA
It was a joy to do this on Saturday 25 May in Europe’s largest military garrison. SASRA joined with Grace Church Catterick – a local garrison church pastored by former Ministry Director Warran Fawcett – to facilitate a twelve-hour prayer event for the work.
The day was bookended with short reflections from God’s Word and peppered with songs of praise. Prayer Coordinator Laura Reuter spoke of how the Lord has been answering prayers and of the overarching prayer needs for the Association, including the increase in financial support needed to fund new Scripture Readers. Updates on each Scripture Reader were also provided, and time was given to praying for each one in turn.
Regional Manager North Andrew McMahon and Scripture Reader Dave Hossack were also there on the day to help lead the event and to chat to supporters and Advocates.
People were encouraged to set aside whatever time they could for the event. Some stayed for thirty minutes, others an hour or two, one supporter very kindly stayed the entire length of the meeting! While attendance was low, the opportunity to pray focused prayers at length for SASRA was wonderful, and we trust that the Lord has heard and that He will answer, according to His perfect will, in His perfect way and in His perfect timing.
L-R: Warran Fawcett (Grace Church Catterick), Laura Reuter (Prayer Coordinator), supporter Janice Grace, Dave Hossack (Scripture Reader). © SASRA
We would love to host more events like this in the future. We recognise that there are so many people and places and situations to pray for, but we would encourage SASRA supporters to make the most of the online and in-person events that we run, never forgetting the privilege it is to enter the throne room of Almighty God and to bring Him our requests.
PRAY WITH US
- Pray that everyone at SASRA would depend on the Lord in prayer more and more.
- Pray that everything SASRA does would be fuelled by prayer.
- Pray that more Christians would join our online and in-person prayer events.
