Written by: John Sernaque
Dear Reader.
Books / Pr - Prayer (2002) / Chapter 7—Prayer And Obedience
Pray and Work—We are not to sit in calm expectancy of oppression and tribulation, and fold our hands, doing nothing to avert the evil. Let our united cries be sent up to heaven. Pray and work, and work and pray. But let none act rashly. Learn as never before that you must be meek and lowly in heart.—(Selected Messages 2:370, 371.) {Pr 64.1}
We must pray and work and believe. The Lord is our efficiency. — (Evangelism, 438.) {Pr 64.2}
You will have to wrestle with difficulties, carry burdens, give advice, plan and execute, constantly looking to God for help. Pray and labor, labor and pray; as pupils in the school of Christ, learn of Jesus.—(Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, 498, 499.) {Pr 64.3}
Faith without works is dead. Prayer and work go hand in hand. Strive to work no matter how difficult the road ahead seems. However, do not start your work without first praying to our Lord in heaven. He will remove any obstacles Satan tries to put in the way of proclaiming the everlasting gospel. He will grant you strength and courage, wisdom and understanding when you endeavor in evangelizing to the meek and lowly, rich and poor, free and captive. The whole world is set before us to go out and work. The labor is plenty but the workers are few. Pray, work, and believe Christ Jesus is coming soon.
Our Father, God Almighty,
We come before You into Your presence to give You thanks and praise. We thank You for giving us this day, and every day You give our families and us. We thank You for giving us Your breath of life. We thank You for the privilege of prayer, even when we come to You as sinners. Yet, You still welcome us and love us so much, even more than an earthly parent loves their child. We thank You for giving up Your earthly life, shedding Your blood for us, that we can be free of sin. We claim the victory You won on the cross at Calvary. We are sorry we have sinned against You and pray for forgiveness. We pray that You blot out our sins and that we are worthy of having our names written in Your Book of Life. Please remove our filthy rags and clothe us in the robe of righteousness. We pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that we receive Your character. May the spirit live and dwell within us, abide in us that we may abide in You. We pray You speak through us to help us share the everlasting gospel to all peoples and nations, as well as locally right where we are. Please remove the obstacles Satan places in our path. Grant us strength and courage to go forward, to walk in faith as Moses did when he led the Israelites across the Red Sea. There is plenty of work to do and the time is short. We pray for Your servants to pick up their cross and join the workers, not sit idly by, and always to remember to be meek and lowly in heart. Help us to learn of You. Pray, work, and believe You are coming soon. We thank You for hearing and answering our prayers, in the name of Christ Jesus, we pray. Amen.
