Reality check

The Spiritual temperature of St. Mark’s is cooler than I would like it to be. On a couple of occasions recently it has become clear to me just what a low ebb we are at spiritually, and how much work I need to put in if I am to call the whole church into renewal. And yet some folk are really on fire for the Lord at the moment. It is just that there are about seven times as many who are very cool about spiritual things. It is a bit like a bath of cold water with a scalding hot patch at one end.

I don’t want to become critical or judgmental, but the level of enthusiasm for prayer seems to be at the lower end of the temperature gauge. I struggled a bit to not be discouraged when there were only three other people present at the start of our day of prayer on Saturday 2nd September. At about 10.20am a handful of others showed up which was good. At one stage there were over 15 people present and in total it was attended by about 25-30 members, including at least two from the 9am BCP congregation.

To be fair to those who did not attend, the weather was dreadful and will probably have discouraged a number of the older ladies from venturing out. Also it did happen very soon after the holiday period, so some folk may not have realised it was happening.

While praying about the lower than hoped for attendance I felt that it would be good to give the rest of the church another opportunity. So on Saturday 7th October we will be having another day of prayer.

Yesterday our Alpha Prayer was attended by ten church members plus myself. We enjoyed a powerful time of praise and prayer. The Spirit was with us. But surely out of a membership of about 150 people you would have expected more people to attend? Allowing for the fact that this was a midweek meeting and taking into account that some of our folk are active in other ministries I would not expect everyone to come. But just ten? What does this say about the spiritual temperature of the church? Is there no desire to see the lost saved?

I don’t fully understand quite why it is important for lots of people to gather for prayer. I am sure we can’t force God’s hand by sheer weight of numbers. But it is an assumption in evangelical circles that spiritual things happen when lots of people pray often.

This is probably because praying brings us closer to God. We become more passionate, more inspired, more enthusiastic and this passion and enthusiasm is contagious. It spurs others on. It releases energy. Also as we pray we discern the heart of God and we bring our wills in line with his. We see where we have been half-hearted or lazy or selfish. We present ourselves to be the living sacrifices that will be used by God to bring his Kingdom rule into our sphere of influence.

I am praying for a renewal of spiritual passion. Send the fire, Lord!!