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The story is told of a person once asking the great preacher, Charles Spurgeon, “What is the secret of the power of your preaching and the success of your church?” Spurgeon replied, “Come with me.”
He then proceeded to walk that person through the corridors of the church into the very bowels of the building to the boiler room. As he cracked the boiler room door, the humble space was full of people praying for Spurgeon and for the services taking place that day.
If the gospel is to go forward in power through our churches and in our communities, we must be people of prayer. In order to be people of prayer, we must know how to pray. 1 John 5:14-15 gives us three keys to effective prayer:
First, we approach the throne with CONFIDENCE. “Now this is the confidence we have in Him…”
The Greek word translated as “confidence” in verse 14 literally means “unreservedness in speech.” In other words, the kind of confidence that John is referring to here is the boldness to approach God honestly and speak to Him candidly about whatever is on our heart.
This is not to say we pray with arrogance or confidence in ourselves. Rather, our confidence is in Jesus alone. It is only through His blood that we have access to the Father.
Second, we pray in ACCORDANCE. “that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”
When we pray in accordance with God’s will, He hears our prayer with favor and acts upon our request.
Sometimes it is clear what we should pray. Other times it is harder to discern. The one value that must override every other consideration when we pray is that God’s will be done and that He be glorified. (Remember our Master’s prayer at Gethsemane.)
Third, we go forth with EXPECTANCE. “And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions we have asked of Him.”
In prayer, we bring our petition to the throne, leave it at the feet of God, and go our way with peace in our soul knowing that He is good, trusting that He is faithful, and expecting Him to work in supernatural ways.
We have this confidence because we have the promise of His Word that, when we pray in accordance to His will, He hears us. And if He hears us, we know we have the petitions we have asked of Him.
Are you approaching God with confidence, praying in accordance to His will, and going forth with expectance that He will move on your behalf? Greene County Baptists, let us be people of prayer that God may do a great work among us.
Below are six specific ways that you can pray for GCBA in 2026. Please feel free to use these prayer prompts in your personal devotional time, small group, or church worship service:
1) Pray for the “Fresh Paths Forward” Team as they work to complete GCBA’s new strategic plan that will guide us into the next decade.
2) Pray for the search process to find the next director of Grand Oak Mission, as David Jackson has announced his retirement at the end of this year.
3) Pray for 18 new churches to be planted/re-planted in GCBA by the end of 2030. We call this our “18:30 Church Planting Initiative.”
4) Pray for plateaued and declining churches in our association to regain health and vitality. Currently 70% of our churches fall into these categories.
5) Pray for godly shepherds for the churches in GCBA that are currently in search of a lead pastor.
6) Pray for revival among all GCBA churches, spiritual awakening in Greene County, and strength/encouragement for all leaders of our congregations.
Why be people of prayer? As one man has said, “God can do more in a moment than we can do in a lifetime.”
In Christ,
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