PRAYER
A pastor from Gainsville, GA has said, "THE GREATEST PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE THOSE WHO PRAY." Sadly, there are too many people who just talk about prayer instead of prayer. However, there are less people who actually put the time on their knees in prayer. As a matter of fact, prayer builds a power base, allowing us to do what God commands us to do. He went on to say, "When you pray, God releases angels. No matter what you're going through, they stand by you... One of the greatest tragedies of prayerlessness is the scores of unemployed angels just waiting to be dispatched by God. Angels are attracted to the place of prayer." (see Acts 12:1-17) He believes this is a precious secret!
The Bible tells us that even Jesus, the Son of God, regularly committed His time on earth to prayer.
The Gospel according to Mark recorded, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." (Mark 1:35 NIV)
THE MACEDONIAN CALL:
When the great apostle Paul wanted to bring the gospel into Asia, the Holy Spirit prevented him from going East.
"During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonian standing and begging him, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' " (Acts 16:9) Paul realized that God wanted him to go West instead.
When Paul came to Macedonia, however, he did not find any man standing and begging for the gospel at all. He couldn't even find a Jewish place of worship in town. But the Holy Spirit led Paul and his colleagues to a place of prayer at the riverside where they found a group of women who gathered there and actually prayed. This event led to the conversion of a salelady named Lydia and her housewhole became believers and they started the first church in Europe. The rest is the history! (See Acts 16:10-15)
If the church of Christ will just follow this biblical model, we will surely have been more successfull in church planting, even in the heart of our homeland.
We need a man of prayer. If we don't have one, we should not hesitate to look for a woman of prayer. In fact, many churches that God blesses, many of them have been started with godly women who also happened to be praying women.