A MINISTER'S PRIORITY: PRAYER
Exodus 18:19-22
Acts 6:4

I. Stand Before God for the People.   Verse 19c

     A. Nothing is more important than intercession.

    I believe the Lord has taught me this lesson above all: Never undertake
    more Christian work than can be covered in believing prayer.   Each of us
    has to work out what this means in personal experience in relation to our
    ministry, but I believe it is an abiding principle for us all.   To fail here is
    to act not in faith but in presumption.

    Alan Redpath

    I ought to spend the best hours of the day in communion with God.   It
    is my noblest and most fruitful employment, and is not therefore to be
    thrust into any corner.

    Robert Murray McCheyne

    We live in a day characterized by the multiplication of man's machinery
    and the diminution of God's power.   The great cry of our day is work,
    work, work, organize, organize, organize, give us some new society, tell us
    some new methods, devise some new machinery: but the great need of
    our day is prayer, more prayer, and better prayer.

    R. A. Torrey

    Prayer is vital.   It is the pathway to tranquility and strength of soul.   A
    man's prayers are the measure of his Christianity, understanding of
    spiritual matters, and experience of God.   To fail in prayer is to fail in all
    else.   Prayer is the place of testing and conflict; for prayer challenges all
    doubt, all disillusionment, all material and cardinal preoccupation.

    E. M. Blaiklock

    In prayer, you align yourself to the purpose and power of God and He is
    able to do things through you that He could not do otherwise . . . for this
    is an open universe, where some things are left open, contingent upon our

    doing them.   If we do not do them, they will never be done.   So God has
    left certain things open to prayer -- things which will never be done except
    as we pray.

    E. Stanley Jones

    The work of praying is prerequisite to all other work in the Kingdom of
    God, for the simple reason that it is by prayer that we couple the powers
    of Heaven to our helplessness, the powers which can turn water into wine
    and remove mountains in our own lives and the lives of others, the powers
    which can awaken those who sleep in sin and raise up the dead, the
    power which can capture strongholds and make the impossible possible.

    O. Hollesby

    If we think that prayer is something we do only in dignified ceremonies or
    desperate emergencies, we have missed its value.   We treat prayer as though
    it were the spice of life but the Bible prescribes it as a vital staple in our
    diet.   We are content with a dash of praise, a pinch of petition, a drop of
    confession to bring a slight flavor to our secularity.   We sprinkle
    a shake or two of the supernatural over our basic humanism and call the
    mixture religion.   But God sees prayer as the breath of spiritual life.

    David Hubbard

    The direct power of prayer is, in a sense, omnipotent.   Prayer moves the
    hand that moves the world.   It secures for the believer the resources of
    divinity.   It is the oratory that gives power to the pulpit.   It is the hand that
    strikes down Satan and breaks the fetters of sin.   It turns the scales of fate
    more than the edge of the sword, the craft of the statesman, or the weight
    of the scepters.   It has arrested the wings of time, turned away the scythe
    of death, and discharged heaven's frowning and darkest cloud in a shower
    of blessings.

    A Modern Writer

    Prayer power is not only the most direct, but also the most effective force
    that can be brought to bear upon the many difficulties that exist in the
    Lord's work.   He who waits upon God moves on in quiet confidence and
    needs neither the blare of trumpets nor present-agent methods to announce
    his success, but in godly fear, leaves until the day of Christ's return the

    record of achievement.

    Unknown Author

    Prayer is the key that unlocks all the storehouses of God's infinite grace
    and power.   All that God is, and all that God has, is at the disposal of
    prayer.

    R. A. Torrey

    The most important work of the child of God is intercession.

    J. D. Drysdale

    Our one great business is prayer.

    E. M. Bounds

    Doubtless more men and money are needed for foreign missions work, but
    the greatest need of foreign mission work is prayer.

    R. A. Torrey

    A man might preach with the eloquence of a Beecher and be the most
    skilled of diplomats, a soul winner, but he will fall short of his ministry in
    both fields if he isn't backed up by the prayer life.

    Kenyon

    Missions must have their root in prayer.   It must have prayer in all of its
    plans and prayer must precede, go with, and follow all of its missionaries
    and laborers.

    A Preacher

    God's children can conquer everything by prayer.   Is it any wonder that
    Satan does his utmost to snatch that weapon from the Christians or to
    hinder them in the use of it.

    Andrew Murray

II. Thou Shalt Teach Them Ordinances and Laws.   Verse 20.

     A. Prepare key themes.

     B. Import Biblical principles.
     C. Give systematic instruction.

III. Show Them the Way Wherein They Must Walk.   Verse 20b.

     A. Incarnate the Word of God.
     B. Seek long-range vision.
     C. Develop strategy based on principle.

IV. And the Work They Must Do.   Verse 20c.

     A. There must be a plan for work.
     B. Goals must be included.
     C. Impart the mechanics of implementation.

V. Select From All the People Able Men That Fear God.   Verse 21a.

     A. Delegation must be a conviction.
     B. Develop and appoint leadership.

VI. Every Great Matter They Shall Bring to You.   Verse 22b.

     A. Define your priorities.
     B. Redeem the time.
     C. Keep focus.
     D. Evaluate.

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