The Absence of Prayer

The more I read and study about men who were gripped by God throughout histrory, the more I witness their undeniable reliance upon prayer.  Whether that man was Mueller, Taylor, Finney, Whitfield, or Wesley, the greatest characterisitic of their lives and their ministry was their prayers.  We have many who would lead today that can many things said about them, they are men of vision, men of accomplishment, and men of determination but can we call them men of prayer?  Prayer has been replaced in many of our pastorates by leadership books, strategies, and advertising.  While none of those things are bad, they are no substitute for prayer. 
Our lack of prayer today directly corresponds to our lack of power in our churches.  All the powers of the flesh and the forces of Hell are working to keep the souls of men enslaved to sin.  As a result, God has made his unlimited power available to us for the battle.  Yet we march forth defeated and dejected.  We make excuses and we soothe our conscience by changing the goals.  All in an effort to cover the fact that we have failed to pray.
Leonard Ravenhill stated "This generation of the church needs to pray more than any previous generation, but we probably pray less."  There is more truth in that one sentence than I have time to address, but the absence of prayer cannot be ignored.  We cannot achieve a spiritual result through planning and hard work.  Those are essential elements to the church for certain, but they are only effective once they have been empowered through prayer. 
The faithful Bible teacher John Fletcher would teach his students about the great doctrines of God and after lecturing for one hour would end his class with this statement: "That is the theory, now will the ones who want the practice come along to my room?"  The subsequent session would be spent in prayer for hours until every man had the full assurance of what he had been praying for.  When was the last time any of us spent three hours in prayer about anything?  Wesley prayed for a minimum of three hours a day for he understood that the work he undertook was too great to bear without the time in prayer.  When Wesley died he left behind six five pound notes, a set of silver spoons, and thousands of souls that had entered the kingdom through his ministry.  D.L. Moody prayed and then he worked.  The greatest testimony of Moody is made by one of his harshest critics who stated "The population of Hell has been decreased by at least a million souls because of D.L. Moody."
One may say that those things are fine but God does not move like that today.  I would counter that the Word of God declares that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  God's arm has not shortened nor has his strength weaked.  I would say that God is moving just like this all around the world where his people come to him and pray with a passion for his work, his will, and his way. 
Revival is burning across the plains of the Sudan, across the snows of the old Soviet Union, and among the mountains of South Korea.  Will you join them in prayer?  Will you seek the power that has been promised for salvation of souls?  Will you crave the filling of the Holy Spirit in your life?  Will you plead for the annointing of God upon your preaching and teaching?  Will you pray and not let go of God in prayer until he has let go of you?