“Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, 2 and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith.” (2 Thessalonians 3:1–2 (ESV)
The following message is from Dr. John Piper. He is founder and teacher of Desiring God and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, He preached this sermon on January 13, 1985.
A Challenge to Pray
We stand at the end of the week in prayer and at the beginning of 1985. We have begun it in the way we should. The ministry of the word will run and be glorified at Bethlehem Baptist Church this year to the degree that we remain faithful to God’s word and to the degree that we pray for its victory. Everything of eternal significance happens by the word and prayer.
Let me hold out a challenge to you. Would you be willing to join me in resolving to pray this prayer every day this year? “Lord, cause your word to run and be glorified in the ministries of our church and in the missions we support.”
It implies praying that the word of God will win converts to Christ in our midst. It implies praying that the word of God will conquer sinful habits in our lives. It implies praying that the word of God will rise up and send out from among us ministers of the word at home and abroad. It implies praying that the teachers of the church will be kept from the evil one and will hold to the truth and be filled with spiritual power to proclaim and explain the word of God.
But all I am asking is whether you will make the promise. God helping me, I will pray each day in 1985 this simple prayer: Lord, cause your word to run and be glorified in the ministries of our church and in the missions we support.
Before I ask you to make that choice, let me close with an illustration of the kind of discipline and perseverance in prayer that might inspire you.
Illustration and Encouragement to Pray
David Howard, whose son teaches at our seminary and who is general director of The World Evangelical Fellowship, told recently in the Evangelical Missions Quarterly about a great movement of prayer that happened at Wheaton College when he and Jim Elliot were there in 1946.
Jim Elliot—the missionary killed by the Auca Indians in Ecuador—organized a campus-wide round-the-clock prayer cycle so that a student was praying for a mission’s movement during every 15-minute slot. One of the students’ named Art Wiens was moved during that week to pray systematically through the college directory, praying for 10 students by name every day. He followed this faithfully through his college years.
David Howard says that he did not see Art Wiens again until 1974, about 25 years later, at the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Switzerland. As they renewed their friendship, Art asked David Howard if he recalled the great times of prayer they used to have. Then he said, “You know, Dave, I am still praying for 500 of our college contemporaries who are now on the mission field.” David asked him how he knew that many are overseas. He said, “I kept in touch with the alumni office and found out who was going as a missionary, and I still pray for them.”
Dave was so astounded he asked if he could see the prayer list. The next day he brought it to him—a battered old notebook he had started in college days with the names of hundreds of their classmates and fellow students.
Have you ever tested the desire to put your hand to a plow and not take it off for 25 years? Well, I would like to give you the chance to put it to the plow for one year, and the plow is very light. It takes eight seconds to say prayerfully, “Lord, cause your word to run and be glorified in the ministries of our church and in the missions we support. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.
Soli deo Gloria!
His Word Today 