Paul Miller was recently invited to contribute this article, "An Open Letter to the Prayerless Church", to Crossway's Open Letters series.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It’s been a hard few years for the church. There’s a sense in which the pandemic sped up a transition we were already in. It took out old solutions that were propping things up, making room for new ones. I’m hopeful for the church in this season.
In times like these, we pray. We pray not so much out of discipline as out of “learned desperation.” These seemingly innocuous prayers accomplish something quite remarkable: they allow the very life of Jesus, by his Spirit, to flow into our lives, our families, and our churches, reflecting “the immeasurable greatness of his power.” Just as the gospel is power for us at the precise place of our need, so, too, prayer is help—real, powerful help—at the very place where we have need and weakness.
You see, the church is a spiritual force. It is animated by the Spirit of Jesus in our midst. So, if we want to see the church brought back to life, we have to make room to listen and be led by the Spirit as a community. The way we do this is to pray together.
Read the full article on Crossway's blog.
