Prayer is work.  To be effective in prayer takes discipline and diligence, both of which are necessary ingredients in any successful endeavor.  If we suggest prayer is not work then I think we deceive people, and perhaps ourselves.  We may enjoy praying, as we might our jobs, but it is work nevertheless.

But prayer also works.  I don’t mean this as a simple cliche.  I have in mind the power and effectiveness that results from the labor of prayer. 

I was reminded of this a few weeks ago when I passed by an adult bookstore semingly too close to a local elementary school.

I wondered: How much effort would it take for one person to clean out an adult bookstore, or a seedy bar, and turn it into something useful and beneficial?  How much actual labor?  One would have to go in and discard all the inventory. That would certainly be hours and hours of work, to haul that stuff to a rented dumpster or the back of a pick-up truck.  If someone was undertaking this project on his spare time, it is reasonable that this initial phase alone could take days, or even spread out over a few weeks.  Then would come the need to clean up (which might even come first).  Everything would need to be scrubbed down and sanitized.  I imagine that would be several more hours, at least.  Then comes the fix-up, when painting and other details are put in place…

You get the idea.  To make a dent, even in a small facilty, would take hours and hours of backbreaking work.  Obviously, the time and energy would be cut down if others help in this project. 

It strikes me that effective intercessory prayer is like that. 

Let me explain:

God, in his sovereignty and providence, has placed his people (the Church) in particular places at particular times in history in order that we might be living expressions of the Kingdom of God. Our goal should not be to merely carve out a niche within our neighborhoods but the transformation of the whole community where God has placed us. (See Jeremiah 29.7)  To be satisfied with having a safe place within the community seems to me like just cleaning out one room in that adult bookstore and leaving the rest in tact.

Such transformation takes time and diligent effort.  But little by little things change and can shape up. However, it is God who does the heavy lifting for what would be back-breaking work for us. In many cases this work would be impossible for us.

Our work is to be diligent in prayer, focused and clear about what we see needing to be accomplished in a particualr place, or in a specific life.  We are not always certain about the amount of work that really needs to be done, or how much time it might take; and we may not find those things out until the work is underway. Change takes time, but it comes.  And if we are assisted by others who partner with us in intercession, the job is a little easier, and more enjoyable.

Prayer is the work we do.  And prayer works.