Ash Wednesday is the start of the Lenten season on most of the Western Church’s calendar. It is the season that Christians use to draw closer to God through fasting and praying as we recognize and acknowledge our sinful nature and our dependence on the saving grace of Christ. If you observe Lent, do so with true worship and a sincere heart. Often time, we enter into various Church seasons with our focus on the traditional aspects of the season: color, time, food, daily activities etc. The tradition is not what saves us; the tradition is just a guide which helps us to stay focused, keep a schedule, and remain true to the call on our lives and our service to His Kingdom. We use the traditions of the season of Lent to build a stronger spiritual life, and in humility, draw closer to God as we remember what was told to us in Genesis 3:19:
“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
This verse reminded me of a sermon a pastor preached at a church I visited a few Sundays ago. He, also a guest at the church, had been invited as the celebrant for that Sunday. His message centered on our responsibilities as members of the Kingdom, and one of the key items in his sermon was our prayer life. He said too often our prayer lives or the purpose of our prayer is focused on our circumstances. We are always praying for healing, finances, social positions etc. The pastor stressed that the foremost urgency of our prayers should be the spreading of Gospel, to fulfill the great commission of evangelism. Now, I am not saying we shouldn’t pray for prosperity or good health, too often that is all our prayers are about. There is no greater prayer, than the prayer for wisdom and guidance to boldly tell a lost soul of the saving grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Here is a request from Paul in Ephesian 6:18-20
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and request. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
It is a fact that from the day we were born, this mortal body of ours began to die. This is the reality of the fallen world. While we can pray for healing or longevity of life, the fact will always remain: we are going to die. Every person that Jesus healed while he was on earth is already dead; their earthly bodies did eventually succumb to the reality of time and death. Finances and social statuses change over time, and eventually each person will die and leave it all. However, there is one thing that will assure us of eternity and that is the saving grace of Jesus. So as we enter this Lenten season of prayer, let us do so with an emphasis on spreading the Gospel. Pray for the boldness that we need to take the love of Christ to a world that is falling into endless despair and great sinfulness. Pray for the boldness and fearlessness to express to the world the incorruptible, infallible, and everlasting Word of God and His saving grace through Christ Jesus.
Christians, at times, exhibit a naive and unfulfilled existence, thinking that that since they are already saved by the blood of Christ, there is not much more that is needed to be done. After all, I go to church every Sunday and say a prayer or two every now and then. This is a neglectful perspective of a sound Christian walk or call to ministry. The true life of a Christian is contrary to this attitude or approach. We all have a ministry in God’s Kingdom, and in each ministry there will be trials and tribulation of some sort or degree. Jesus’ ministry led Him to endure trial and tribulations: the cross. As believers, we will face trials and tribulation that can range from persecution to ridicule, and even marginalization. This is what Hebrews 5:7-9 demonstrated to us through the earthly prayer life of Jesus.
“He offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission. Son though He was, He learned obedience from what He suffered and, once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.”
The source of our strength, for the ministry we are ordained to carry out, is our Lord. There will be times when we face trials and tribulations and our fervent prayers may seems unanswered, but what we need to understand is that while God did not remove those obstacles, He surely will give us the strength and wisdom to press on through with His will for our ministry. We must remember that Jesus was tested the same way, and just as God strengthened Him to endure the crucifixion, God will also give us sufficient grace that will allow us to endure. How can we endure if our prayer life is not what it should be?
Personally, I will try (emphasis on try) using the season of Lent to condition myself to purposefully rekindle a more disciplined prayer life, which in reality, tends to wane as the rigors of daily living wedge itself between me and my Heavenly Father. Prayer and fasting can pull us out of this mire. This way of worship is so important. My experience is that when my prayer life wanes, I experience a noticeable decline in my eagerness to impart the word of God to others. The cares of the Kingdom and my ministry responsibilities are what suffer the most. The lack of a purposeful prayer life can cause the temptations of daily life to overcome my willingness to serve. Jesus warned the disciples of this when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane: Matthew 26:40-41
“Then He returned to His disciples and found them sleeping. ‘Couldn’t you men keep watch with Me for one hour?’ He asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
So often the issue with my prayer life is staying awake. The fact is, when my prayer life suffers, I usually don’t experience a decrease or increase in sickness or finances. However, there is almost always a lethargic or negligent approach to my ministry responsibilities. This warning from Jesus to His disciples is such a powerful reminder to my situation during times of prayer. Someone once said to me: There is a thin line between prayerful meditation and deep sleep. A lackluster approach to ministry: One of the main reasons for this is our lack of ferventness to a purposeful prayer life.
Community or collective prayers are a good practice for the life of the body as a whole. However, too often, we Christians rely solely on corporate prayer that we participate in during church or other gatherings. This form of prayer while good and necessary, is insufficient in of itself to sustain us. While Jesus prayed with His disciples as a whole, there were times that the Bible tells us He went away on His own to pray privately to His Father. The most important prayer is our personal, private time alone with God. Jesus taught us to pray collectively with His teaching of The Lord’s Prayer, which provided a structure and format for our corporate worship. But Jesus surely taught us how to pray alone as well. He placed a lot of emphasis on how we should engage in one-on-one interlude with God, Matthew 6:5-8 & 16-18. Jesus took the time to teach us how to do so effectively:
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
A strong personal prayer life is more important than any collective prayer group. As we all know, collectively, we are only as strong as the weakest link.
The season of Lent is derived from Jesus’ time in the wilderness fasting and praying for forty day and forty nights. Jesus subjected Himself to this harsh environment, away from everyone and everything to pray to His Father before starting His ministry that would eventually lead to His crucifixion and resurrection. Jesus, the Son of God, prayed and fasted because of the important task He had before Him. Jesus, the Incarnate Word of God was about to embark on imparting the Gospel to mankind. This is the Good News, for all who believe will have everlasting life.
After Jesus was through praying in the wilderness, Satan brought before Him the worldly temptations to undermine His ministry and saving grace for mankind. Jesus in all His holiness, in all His righteousness, power and strength from high, rebuked Satan and went on to His ministry, calling onto the world to hear the good news of the gospel. This was Jesus’ final charge to Satan as He repeatedly rebuked him; Matthew 4:10-11
Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’” Then the devil left Him, and angels came and attended Him.
So as we enter into the Lenten season, keep in mind that our Lord also cried out to the Father in prayer and supplication because His desire was to do nothing outside of the Father’s will. Let us also do likewise in true prayer and worship. Let us do so because of Jesus’ love for us, because of who He is, and because of what He did for us on Calvary. Let us do so because we want to be more like Him, living a life that is holy and pleasing to our Heavenly Father. Without a fervent prayer life, our willingness to be obedient to God’s will in our lifes, will slowly erode as the temptation of life will eat away our effort to comply with the Great Commission. This is what Jesus said in Mark 1:15 before He called His first disciple:
“The time has come,” He said. “The Kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
We now live in a world that so desperately needs to hear these words of hope and assurance: Jesus died, but He rose again, and is triumphant over death, desolation, and despair. We are alive in Him, and we have the hope of eternal life through the forgiveness of our sins. Only Jesus can wrought this salvation of our souls, and it is only in Him that ‘we live, and move, and have our being’. Let us use this Lenten season to give Him the glory and draw closely to Him daily through our prayers.
J. R. Tracey
The Branch Life 
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