Praying Ministry
May 8, 2021•182 words
Prayer is the main secret of success in spiritual business. It moves Him who can move heaven and earth. It brings down the promised aid of the Holy Spirit without whom the finest sermons, the clearest teaching, and the most diligent labors are all alike in vain. It is not always those who have the most eminent gifts who are most successful laborers for God. It is generally those who keep up closest communion with Christ and are most constant in prayer. It is those who cry with the prophet Ezekiel, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life” (Ezekiel 37:9). It is those who follow most exactly the apostolic model and devote [themselves] to prayer and to the ministry of the word (Acts 6:4). Happy is that church which has a praying as well as a preaching ministry! The question we should ask about a new minister is not merely, Can he preach well? but also, Does he pray much for his people and his work?
—J.C. Ryle, ‘Expository Thoughts on Mark’