Why Have So Many Churches Abandoned Prayer?
Some dear pastor friends of mine who lead a church in South Jersey have been in fervent prayer for nine weeks via conference call and regularly taking Communion (others are praying together online via Zoom or Skype or some other vehicle).
But in their region, many churches are not even making any effort to pray corporately. And I’m afraid this pattern is consistent nationwide. Thank God for the churches who are giving themselves to serious prayer in this evil hour, but why are so many not praying?
The short answer is lethargy.
The dictionary defines lethargy as a lack of energy or enthusiasm. It is a pathological state of sleepiness or deep unresponsiveness and inactivity. Spiritually, prayerlessness is rooted in a lack of love.
“Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me” (Rom. 15:30, NKJV).
Notice the two expressions in that verse, “love of the Spirit” and “that you strive together with me TO GOD for me.”
This statement may seem obvious, but we pray to God. So many forget the simplicity and potency of that truth. In other words, to pray to God is to put our total dependence on Him.
Honestly, prayerlessness is such a sin and a state of spiritual poverty in many churches today because it is an indicator of our independence from God.
In times like these, acting and living independently from God is spiritual suicide.
Jesus gave another reason for this lack of love:
“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold” (Matt. 24:12).
With the COVID-19 pandemic birthing such fear in the world and now hate-filled lawlessness abounding nationwide, sadly the love of many is growing cold. This love is agape, the God kind of love, found only in believers, who are to be the conscience and voice of the nation during such evil times, and who are to pray effectually to thwart off Satan and the hordes of hell who are wreaking havoc on America and the world.
How is it that the love of believers can grow cold in such times of trouble and crisis? It is the plan of Satan in every generation to lull the church to sleep where prayerlessness becomes the norm. A prayerless church in nearly worthless. They are no threat to Satan and his evil plans and schemes.
An Incredible Encounter
Notice from the following incredible encounter that young prophet Jeremiah Johnson recently had that alerted and shook up the body of Christ in America and worldwide, who it is that does the most damage to Satan’s kingdom:
On the night of May 30th, while praying and pacing over the United States in my home around 2 a.m., a demonic entity appeared right before me in an open vision. This type of encounter has only ever happened one other time while I was ministering in a foreign country in 2015. I have always engaged in this type of spiritual warfare while asleep and dreaming prophetically, but rarely if ever to this degree while awake.
This demonic entity had a visible and deep scar underneath its right eye, but it also had the ability to mutate or rather change forms. I watched this being morph several times right in front of me, yet the gash below its right eye remained.
It pointed its finger right in my face and said, “I exist to deceive the whole world. Just as there are forerunners in the kingdom of God that go before the Son of Man, so I am a forerunning spirit in the kingdom of darkness that has been sent before the coming of the man of lawlessness.”
It continued, “The scar underneath my right eye has come at the hands of the praying church, for many of them in this hour have begun to detect our true plans and purposes to disrupt systems, divert attention, and release chaos in the land.”
A New Birth Is Coming
The apostle Paul said this: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. See then that you walk carefully, not as fools but as wise men, making the most of the time because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:14-16, MEV).
In my latest book, The Tumultuous 2020s and Beyond, I wrote of a spiritual dream my wife had where The Lord showed her that the true condition of many in the body of Christ was one of sleepiness and slumber—underutilized, underachieving and not living up to its potential, power and effectiveness. But the good news is, that is about to change.
In this dream, my wife was pregnant and the surgeon wanted to perform a C-section and cut her open, but someone told her that she didn’t have to give birth the old way as before, but instead she could give birth God’s way—in the Spirit. At that moment, beginning from her navel, there was an expansion of her belly that blossomed out.
Dream Interpretation
There is a super strength in the Spirit for the body of Christ to give birth to a move of God and an awakening right now, but many only need to arise from their state of slumber.
In this dream, my wife saw the body of Christ awakening from her slumber and literally get out of bed.
Church, I know right now it may not look like it, but this is our finest hour! Let us get out of bed and arise from our slumber, and give ourselves to prayer and the Lord’s purposes. {eoa}
