PRAYER: THE FOUNDATION OF MINISTRY…
- A Heart Refined with Rachel Menard
- Jun 23
- 10 min read
Updated: Jun 26
Take time to read these words on prayer as our foundation, written by Billy Graham. He examines five key elements of effectual prayer.
“The men upon whose shoulders rested the initial responsibility of Christianizing the world came to Jesus with one supreme request. They did not say, “Lord, teach us to preach”; “Lord, teach us to do miracles”; or “Lord, teach us to be wise” ... but they said, “Lord, teach us to pray.”
No one has given more encouragement to praying than did Jesus. The followers of Christ were both encouraged to pray and taught how to pray. They saw constantly the example He set in praying, and they noted the direct relationship between Jesus’ unusual ministry and His devout life of prayer.
Jesus considered prayer more important than food, for the Bible says that hours before breakfast, “In the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed” (Mark 1:35, NKJV).
To the Son of God, prayer was more important than the assembling of great throngs. The Bible says, “And great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed” (Luke 5:15−16).
The precious hours of fellowship with His Heavenly Father meant much more to our Savior than sleep, for the Bible says, “It came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12).
He prayed at funerals, and the dead were raised. He prayed over the five loaves and two fishes, and a multitude were fed with a little boy’s lunch. He prayed, “Not my will, but Yours” (Luke 22:42), and a way was made whereby sinful men and women might approach a holy God.
It has pleased God to relate His work in the world to the prayers of His people. Noah prayed, and God handed him a blueprint of the ark of deliverance. Moses prayed, and God delivered the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. Gideon prayed, and the host of a formidable enemy fled in fear before his valiant, prayerful 300. Daniel prayed, and the mouths of the lions were closed.
Elijah prayed, and the fire of God consumed the sacrifice and licked up the water around the altar. David prayed, and he defeated Goliath on the Philistine battleground. The disciples prayed, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit so that 3,000 were added to the church in one day. Paul prayed, and hundreds of churches were born in Asia Minor and Europe.
God does answer prayer.
AVOID SHORT-CIRCUITING
Some prayers are answered with a yes and some with a no. But what about unanswered prayer?
Perhaps your prayers have been mingled with doubts. Perhaps you have prayed selfishly. Perhaps you have asked God for things which were not best for you.
“I prayed earnestly and nothing happened,” many will say in a tone of dismay. “I asked for guidance, and I’m in serious trouble” ... “I asked God for a companion, and I have found no one”... “I asked God for a good home, and look at the misery and confusion in our house.”
The Bible says that there are specific reasons why prayers are not answered. It may be that your prayers are not answered because of disobedience. A disobedient son cannot expect to “have his cake and eat it too,” as we say. The Bible says, “If you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, ... all these curses will come upon you and overtake you”(Deuteronomy 28:15).
Perhaps your prayers are not answered because of secret sin. David said (and he should know), “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psalm 66:18, KJV). Sin short-circuits the communication system between earth and Heaven, and your praying with an evil heart will not even reach God.
Another reason for prayers not being answered is selfishness or willfulness. The Bible says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures”(James 4:3, NKJV). Prayer serves a dual purpose: the blessing of man and the glory of God. If a prayer is prayed willfully for our own benefit but not for God’s glory, it is not worthy of being answered.
“Not My will, but Yours, be done”(Luke 22:42) is the spirit of effectual prayer.
Real prayer is not a vain repetition of words uttered in public for religious display. Jesus said, “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward” (Matthew 6:5).
Prayer, in the true sense, is not a futile cry of desperation born of fear or frustration. Thousands of people pray only when they are under great stress, or in danger, overcome by uncertainty. I have been in airplanes when an engine died; then people started praying. We have flown through bad thunderstorms when people who may never have thought to pray before were praying all around us. I have talked to soldiers who told me that they never prayed until they were in the midst of battle. There seems to be an instinct in people to pray in times of trouble.
We know “there are no atheists in foxholes,” but the kind of Christianity that fails to reach into our everyday lives will never change the world. Prayer is not limited to conventional religious postures; nor is it restricted to houses of worship or religious ceremony. The Bible says, “I desire therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting” (1 Timothy 2:8).
When you pray, your physical posture is not so important as the attitude of your heart. Many people put a great deal of emphasis on the position of the body during prayer. Some groups or sects insist that you kneel every time you pray or that you fold your hands in a certain way. All of this is relatively unimportant, though kneeling is an act of humility when sincerely done.
PRAY IN STEP WITH GOD
Praying is simply a two-way conversation between you and God. The reason many of the great saints have closed their eyes while praying is to shut out the affairs of the world so that their minds could be completely concentrated on their conversations with God. However, nowhere in Scripture does it say that even the closing of the eyes is important, though it certainly lends itself to the attitude of prayer. The next question many ask is: “Who is told to pray?” Scripture gives the answer, “All men.”
Again, many ask: “Where are we commanded to pray?” Paul gives us the answer when he says, “Everywhere.” Some may also ask, “When are we told to pray?” The Scripture says, “Always.” It is a command, a duty, and a privilege.
In this modern age in which we live, we have learned to harness the power of the mighty Niagara and turn its force to our use and our good. We have learned to hold steam captive in boilers and release its tremendous power to turn our machines. We have learned how to contain gasoline vapors in a cylinder and explode them at the appointed second to move our automobiles and trucks quickly along our highways. We have even discovered the secret of releasing energy in the atom, which is capable of destroying entire cities and civilizations.
But very few of us have learned how to fully develop the power of prayer. We have not yet learned that men and women are more powerful when they are in prayer than when they are behind the most powerful guns we have ever developed. We have not learned that a nation is more powerful when it unites in earnest prayer to God than when its resources are channeled into defensive weapons. We have not discovered that the answers to all our problems can be had through contact with Almighty God.
Scores of missionaries, in all parts of the world, have told me, “Please get the people back home to pray for us. We would rather have their prayers than anything else.” If the Christians back home realized how much their prayers meant to these valiant heroes of the faith, they would not cease to pray day and night for their representatives out there in foreign mission fields.
Christian workers here at home also need your prayers. I know from personal experience. We are only able to move forward in our evangelistic work—the Crusades, the film ministry, television, radio, and Internet—by your prayers. If it were not for the prayers of thousands of God’s people throughout the world, our ministry would completely fail.
APPROACH THE THRONE OF GOD
Now let us look at prayer objectively. What does the Bible say about effectual praying?
First: Prayer is for God’s children.
Jesus said, “When you pray, say, Our Father ...” (see Matthew 6:9).
God has a particular responsibility to His children; and unless we have been born into the family of God through the new birth, we have no right to ask favors of God. The Bible says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).
I have had new Christians say to me, “I don’t know how to pray. I don’t have the right words.” When our children were just learning to talk and had difficulty finding the right words, they still managed to make themselves understood to my wife and me, and the mistakes they made only endeared them to us. In fact, I am sure I treasure their early attempts at conversation more than the words of most adults speaking without hesitation and without error.
Oh, my anxious friend whose prayers have not been answered, God invites you to the intimacy of spiritual sonship, “that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world”(Philippians 2:15).
Second: Effectual prayer is offered in faith.
The Bible says, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:24).
Maltbie Babcock said, “Our prayers must mean something to us if they are to mean anything to God.” It goes without saying that if our prayers are aimless, meaningless, and mingled with doubt, they will go unanswered. Prayer is more than a wish turned heavenward ... it is the voice of faith directed Godward.
Third: Dynamic prayer emanates from an obedient heart.
The Bible says, “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:22).
I know a wealthy father who refused to get his son a bicycle because the boy’s report card showed disgracefully low marks, a yard remained unraked, and other assignments had not been carried out. I am sure the father would not have been wise to lavish gifts upon such a disobedient and ungrateful son.
The Bible says, “If you do not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you” (1 Samuel 12:15).
If you want to get your prayers through to God, surrender your stubborn will to Him, and He will hear your cry. Obedience is the master key to effectual prayer.
Fourth: We are to pray in Christ’s Name.
Jesus said, “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13).
We are not worthy to approach the holy throne of God except through our Advocate, Jesus Christ.
The Bible says, “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, ... let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:14, 16).
God, for Christ’s sake, forgives our sins. God, for Christ’s sake, supplies our needs. God, for Christ’s sake, receives our prayers. The person who comes with confidence to the throne of grace has seen that His approach to God has been made possible because of Jesus Christ.
Many may ask, “Is there no other way to pray except through Jesus Christ?” You may pray, but according to the Bible, “There is ... one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
Fifth: We must desire the will of God.
Even our Lord, contrary to His own disposition at the moment, said, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done” (Matthew 26:42).
Prayer couples you with God’s true purposes for you and the world. It not only brings the blessings of God’s will to your own personal life, but it brings you the added blessing of being in step with God’s plan.
And last: Our prayer must be for God’s glory.
The model prayer which Jesus has given us concludes with “Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever”(Matthew 6:13). If we are to have our prayers answered, we must give God the glory. Our Lord said to His disciples, “Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13).
What a privilege is ours: the privilege of prayer! Christian, examine your heart, reconsecrate your life, yield yourself to God unreservedly, for only those who pray through a clean heart will be heard by Him. The Bible says, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much”(James 5:16).
We are to pray in times of adversity, lest we become faithless and unbelieving. We are to pray in times of prosperity, lest we become boastful and proud. We are to pray in times of danger, lest we become fearful and doubting. We need to pray in times of security, lest we become self-sufficient.
Sinners, pray to a merciful God for forgiveness! Christians, pray for an outpouring of God’s Spirit upon a willful, evil, unrepentant world. Parents, pray that God may crown your home with grace and mercy! Children, pray for the salvation of your parents!
Christians, saints of God, pray that the dew of Heaven may fall on earth’s dry, thirsty ground, and that righteousness may cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Pray, believing, with this promise of our Savior in mind: “Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:24)."
*All rights reserved by Billy Graham.
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