“Jesus called out with a loud voice, Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit.”  (Luke 23: 46)

Nothing and I mean absolutely nothing grabs your heart as much as a renewed picture of the Cross.  That’s because, in the portrait of that ‘old rugged Tree’, there is deep emotion, there is heart wrenching sacrifice and overwhelming commitment.  Calvary is where we discover just
how much God really loved us, but it’s also where we see the threads of blood stained prayer running throughout it.  In fact, whatever Jesus did, prayer was always involved.  Follow Him in the Scriptures, and see for yourselves how often Jesus prayed.  He prayed at some
of the most significant times of His life and ministry, and then encouraged His disciples and those who followed after Him, to do the same.  There at the Cross, prayer was very much a great part of His language and was such a powerful vehicle of communication with His Father in Heaven.  Let’s be very honest here – it ought to be the same for us as well!
Did you know that there are seventy-four million, two hundred thousand (74,200,000) websites on ‘Google’ for the word ‘prayer’.  For the word, ‘praying’ there is something like 21,500,000 sites.  Words associated with prayer also have numbers in the millions – for instance, ‘prayer-
groups’ has 2,410,000, ‘prayer-meeting’ has 1,380,000, and ‘prayer-times’ has a whopping 17,100,000 sites to choose from.  Then there are those words which are often used instead of the word ‘prayer’, such as ‘supplication’, which has 837,000 sites and ‘petition’
which comes in with one million, three hundred and forty thousand sites.  Phew – those are really big numbers and we’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to information concerning prayer.

The few minutes it took me to get all those figures on what’s available about prayer, was the easy part – here’s the really hard part – actually praying!
Prayer is one of the believer’s mightiest weapons – much more powerful than anything the world can throw at us and yet, it seems to be the weapon most neglected by many believers.  Now please don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that so many are diligent at praying, but somehow we all need to be encouraged to spend time pleading for the fulfilment of God’s will in our own lives and our families, as well as in the ministries we support.  We live in a world where everything we ask about, we expect an immediate reply to.  This often creeps into our prayer sessions, and we find ourselves getting very frustrated with seemingly nothing happening from our prayers.  After an appropriate time (that we have designated ourselves), if no answer comes, we either feel that it wasn’t God’s will after all, or that something is wrong with us that may be hindering our prayers.
I guess my point is that, when it comes to praying, there needs to be a serious commitment to ‘hang in there.’ When approached by one of his officers on the field with the words that his prayers didn’t seem to be working, founder of the Salvation Army, General William Booth replied, “Try tears!!”  It’s that determination not to give up easily, that helps us get to the place where we really begin to pray with the urgency and depth that shakes Heaven.  There are times (amazing times) when God wonderfully answers in gracious timeframes, but there are times when we might never see the answers to our prayers for many months (maybe years).
Vincent van Gogh earned $85 for his paintings
during his lifetime.  One hundred years after his death, just one painting alone sold for the incredible sum of $82.5 million.  Although he saw and experienced glimpses of appreciation throughout his life, his work was only fully appreciated after his death.  For many, the full impact of what we have prayed for will only be seen in the light of God’s presence in Heaven.  There will certainly be glimpses and rewards along the way – but the total impact of how we prayed and what we prayed, may only be enjoyed years from now.
OMS needs prayer, we need prayer teams all across the nation, we need men and women who are desperate for souls and ready to commit themselves to praying for the extension of God’s Kingdom through the ministries of OMS.  Maybe, this is something you are able to do?  Will you pray about being part of an OMS prayer team, knowing that unless we take this seriously, we may miss out on significant blessing and find that the work of winning the lost is not as effective as it should be.  We can no longer run on the prayers of the past – but come today, with fresh hope and fresh zeal – to pray for ourselves and the generations to come.  The great revivalist preacher Leonard Ravenhill once said, “This generation of Christians are responsible for [praying for] this generation of unbelievers.”  Jesus, concerning prayer, tells us that, “…your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”  Matthew 6:6.
Jesus prayed with absolute passion and at great cost (the Cross) – but still He prayed.  If we are to see the blessing we long for, then prayer must be at the very top of our list of priorities – and at any cost.
Reverend Chunillal Pema.