The Most Important Job in the World

Many good things are happening in the church and in the world. More living people know Christ as Savior now than at any time in the history of the world! The gospel is being published more broadly than at any time in the past. But that doesn’t change the urgency of the evangelistic task because there are also more people who are lost today than ever in the history of the world, simply because world population is growing faster than we are evangelizing.

Even though much good is being accomplished in the kingdom, I am convinced that the most important task for Christians, is to pray. To pray for the good of the saints, for the salvation of the lost and for the success of every godly effort. But even more than all that, we pray just for the sheer joy of talking to God! What an awesome privilege we have, to talk personally at any time with the Creator of the universe, who is also our Father and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Again, what an awesome privilege.

By praying for them, we can bless all those we love. Praying, as scripture teaches, that they will prosper and be in health even as their souls prosper. We can help to accomplish God’s will on earth and for those we love, simply by praying.

Jesus taught us to pray for God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. I think that means God wants everyone to be saved, so we need to pray for that on a regular basis. Paul wrote to Timothy that God “desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” (I Timothy 2:4^(ESV)) and in II Peter 3:9 he wrote that the Lord is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” So a relationship with God through Christ is the first priority of God, and should be of every Christian. That won't happen unless people pray.

I say prayer is the most important work of God’s kingdom because every other good work depends on prayer for its greatest effectiveness. Without prayer no other work for God will have any great success. Preachers who don’t pray can’t preach anything worth listening too. Singers who don’t pray can’t sing with the power of the Spirit. Everything we do for God must be bathed in prayer if it is to be effective. Prayer is the most important work of the kingdom.

The wonderful thing is that prayer is also a work every Christian can do! Isn’t it marvelous that God makes the most important work the work of all Christians? He didn’t reserve the best and most important work for a few elite people, instead he allowed it to be a work we all can do.

Imagine if every Christian, every day, would 1) Pray for all the saints, 2) Pray for all the lost people on earth to be saved, and 3) Pray for God’s kingdom to come and God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven! There is absolutely nothing we can do that would have a greater effect for good and for God!

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.