But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit (Jude 1:20)

The Power Of Prayer Lies In Him Who Answers It

You need to know that in your witness for Christ, you are essentially only going to be as effective for Jesus as you are active in your prayer life with Him.

Not mind-numbing Contemplative/Centering Prayer, but a conscious communication, which D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones referred to as:

beyond any question the highest activity of the human soul. Man is at his greatest and highest when upon his knees he comes face to face with God.”[1]

You see, no matter how learned we may become, or how good our ability to testify and/or debate, no one ever accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior of their lives apart from God the Holy Spirit empowering our witness.

And here we discover what was lost in this whole man-centered Church Growth Movement, from which slithered seeker driven/attractional megachurches and the postmodern de-churches of the Emerging Church.

One simply cannot convince someone in the flesh via a bait and switch technique to become a follower of Jesus in the Kingdom of God; one must be regenerated. In addition, apart from Christ they are not already in the Kingdom of Heaven.

You can give your testimony; you can answer questions; you can share reasons why a person ought to surrender their lives to Jesus; but, if they ultimately accept Christ, that decision must originate with God Himself.

As usual Dr. Walter Martin, a powerful defender of Christianity, put it quite well in his little book Essential Christianity. Frankly, in the aftermath of Elephant Room 2, I say it’d be well worth your time to find:

the human heart is like a locked door, but the lock is on the inside of the person. It must be unlocked by God the Holy Spirit.

If we really do love those in our family who are still locked out of the Kingdom of God by their sin, then we’ll make the effort to seek the Lord’s favor, and to develop a close relationship with Him through prayer.

When we are earnest, and diligent, we lay hold of the promise in Hebrews 11:6; God said He will reward those who seek Him.  While those rewards may be material at times, the Lord is always ready to reward us with spiritual blessings.

He gives us a stronger awareness of His glorious presence within us; you see, as a believer you’re in His presence. We all need fresh fillings of the power of God through the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 4:31). If you’ll just ask the Lord, He is always ready to empower you by the Holy Spirit.

That said, we actually can take great comfort in that God is the Source of our power, not us. How great is that; we don’t need to get upset as we witness about our faith, because the results are in the Lord’s hands anyway.

In closing this, for now, f you wish to see loved ones saved and other people you witness to come to Christ, then you do need to develop a good working relationship with God the Holy Spirit. And this isn’t legalism; it’s simply stating a fact.

John MacArthur put it well once when he said, the Christian does have to make an effort in faith and then God does it all. And, in the original Greek of Ephesians 5:18 it says – be continually being filled with the Holy Spirit.

While Christians may disagree as to exactly what that means, on this we should agree: Let it be so, Lord.

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End notes:

[1] Cited in MacArthur, Jr., John (2010-01-01). Alone With God: Rediscovering the Power and Passion of Prayer . David C Cook. Kindle Edition.

See also:

LET’S LOOK AT THE GOSPEL

A GIFT FOR CHRIST

THE SHADOW OF HIS CROSS