Why Fast II? part 5
Let's Go All In!
The day we live in is so under spiritual attack that we really have no other option. We must be people of prayer and fasting. If we would desperately seek God before we are desperate, we could save ourselves a lot of desperation.
I feel such a strong urge to call us as a church to a deeper walk with Jesus! This really isn’t about promoting a church or a thing… it’s about promoting the presence of Jesus. The Lord began to deal with me regarding my own personal prayer life back in 1982. The things I experienced in the privacy of my prayer closet were so transforming that I just couldn’t get away from the idea of influencing as many as I could toward the same thing, knowing that, once they tasted and saw that the Lord is good, they would want more.
We’ve talked about fasting; now let me talk a little about prayer, because the two go together… hand in glove. Did you know that prayer has always marked the Pentecostal movement? Robert C. Cunningham, the past editor of a publication formerly called The Pentecostal Evangel, wrote about Pentecostals and prayer, encouraging readers to
“keep in vital touch with God through prayer.” Cunningham explained,
“Pentecostal people know something about the power of prayer. All we have received from God has come through the avenue of personal prayer.” The church was birthed in prayer on the day of Pentecost – and it is sustained through prayer.
Cunningham expressed concern that Pentecostals, in some quarters, had lost their spiritual vitality. He warned against prayer-less Pentecostalism, which he described as a
“dried-up stream devoid of power and beauty.”
“Without prayer,” he wrote,
“our lives will be empty and our testimony a hollow echo.” He described prayer-less Pentecostals as miserable and noted that we can “go through Pentecostal ritual, but without prayer it will be as dry as dust.”
How should Pentecostals pray? Cunningham pointed to
Acts 1:14 as a scriptural model:
“The disciples were worshiping God, mixing praises with their prayers. They prayed through until their souls burst forth in a torrent of praise.” When the disciples prayed in this way, they encountered God in a miraculous way:
“They magnified God; their souls became enveloped with the divine glory; the Holy Ghost took full control of their enraptured souls and it was then they began to speak in other tongues the wonderful works of God their souls had been contemplating.”
In Cunningham’s estimation, prayer was as important to the disciples as preaching. What happened when the disciples prayed? The lost were saved, the sick were healed, those who had been arrested and persecuted by hostile authorities were delivered, and the church grew. According to Cunningham, this kind of prayer — that which is powerful and effective
(James 5:16) — continues to be needed today.
Don’t you feel as though the Church is just missing something today? We have all of our theology down pat, but knowing what’s right and living the right way are two different things. My challenge to our church is this: if we are going to do this thing called Christianity, let’s go all the way into it. Let’s Go ALL IN! END
