Being People of Prayer

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment.  2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. (Acts 10:1-2)

In today’s lectionary reading, Cornelius, an Italian centurion, is described as “God-fearing.” There is much scholarly debate as to what it meant that Cornelius was a “God-fearer.” But for some reason Cornelius was attracted to the Jewish ethics, theology, and worship. He participated and lived his life as a faithful Jew. As an “outsider,” he was labeled as a God fearer that included practices of generosity and prayer. As a person of prayer, he was noted to practice the regular traditional Jewish prayer times. (v. 30)

I am struck at how Cornelius was labeled a person of prayer. What would it take to raise the bar of my own prayer life? Time!!!! You have seen the statistics that only 80% of pastors pray less than 15 minutes a day. I have tried to practice the disciple of making my life a continual offering of prayer throughout my day, but often my thoughts are centered around the issues at hand. I wonder what it would look like if Presbyterians were known to be people of prayer. 

He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. (Luke 10:2)

A vibrant connection with God through prayer is essential to many aspects of healthy vibrant ministry. In prayer, we are confirmed of God calling upon our lives. In prayer, we pray for the lost. In prayer God delights in our petitions. In prayer, we partner with God to see where God is already active in our communities resulting in Holy Spirit guided discernment. Are we missing something? Could we solve the decline of our denomination if we renewed our commitment to God and spent more time in prayer? I believe we can move the mark. When people look at you do they see a person who lives their life as a total expression of prayer? Let’s be more like Cornelius. We have much to learn from him.

Comments

[NicodemusLegend]

"You have seen the statistics that only 80% of pastors pray less than 15 minutes a day. "

I haven't seen the statistics, so forgive my clarifying question. Are you saying that only 80% of pastors pray as much as "less than 15 minutes a day"? Because that would indeed be a bad (yet believable) statistic.

But if you're telling me that 80% of pastors pray 15 minutes a day or more... well, I don't know what I'd make of that, since it implies that many of those 80% would be praying even more, and that's not a bad thing at all.

[Eric Hoey]

Hi Mark,

I quoted that because I have heard it a few times. You made me go back to verify. I stand CORRECTED! According to Grey Matter Research, the average Protestant minister prays 39 minutes a day. Our own research says a typical PC(USA) pastor spends about four hours a week in prayer and devotions. I wish I verified my stats before I made my argument.

Protestant statistics:
http://www.greymatterresearch.com/index_files/Prayer.htm

PC(USA) statistics:
http://tinyurl.com/24e568v

[Dwain]

Does that prayer time include the nearly constant muttering that pastors often engage in when dealing with those who know how to do the job better than they?

[car restoration]

It's the power of a prayer that came in the heart.