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Martin Luther (1483–1546) towers as a giant in church history. The highly active and influential pastor, professor, author, and father of the Protestant Reformation understood the power of prayer to save time and effort. When asked of his plans for the coming week, Luther mentioned that he generally spent two hours a day in prayer, but the coming week was extra busy. Therefore, he said, “Work, work from early till late. In fact I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.”

from Prayer: The High Impact Secret of High Impact Leaders by Dave Earley

“I scoured the New Testament some time ago, looking for things God does in ministry that are not prompted by prayer. Do you know what I found?

Nothing.

I don’t mean I had trouble finding an item or two: I mean I found nothing.

Everything God does in the work of ministry, He does through prayer. Consider:
• Prayer is the way you defeat the devil (Luke 22: 23; James 4: 7).
• Prayer is the way you get the lost saved (Luke 18: 13).
• Prayer is the way you acquire wisdom (James 1: 5).
• Prayer is the way a backslider gets restored (James 5: 16–20).
• Prayer is how saints get strengthened (Jude 20; Matthew 26: 41).
• Prayer is the way to get laborers out to the mission field (Matthew 9: 38).
• Prayer is how we cure the sick (James 5: 13–15).
• Prayer is how we accomplish the impossible (Mark 11: 23, 24). … everything God wants to do in your life; He has subjugated to one thing: Prayer.

David Jeremiah, Prayer: The Great Adventure (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 1997), 40–41.

“a survey of small-group leaders revealed an interesting correlation between time spent in prayer and small-group multiplication. It revealed that leaders who spent ninety minutes or more in daily devotions multiplied their groups twice as often as those who spent less than half an hour.”

Joel Comiskey, Home Group Cell Explosion (Houston: Touch Publications, 1998), 34

“Since I was sixteen years old and found myself leading a Bible study group of teens at our public high school, I have been aware of the link between prayer and impact. I was newly committed to God and entirely insufficient to make much of a difference in anyone’s life, so I had no choice but to pray. The more I prayed the more God worked. My group of two turned into several groups of more than thirty. Soon much of our high school was ablaze for God.

As a discipleship pastor for a university, a church planter, and a church pastor, I have been reminded repeatedly that the effectiveness of my leadership life has flowed out of the strength of my prayer life. When I prayed well, impact increased. When I failed to pray, effectiveness diminished.”

Dave Earley
Prayer: The Timeless Secret of High Impact Leaders

“I have read the lives of many eminent Christians who have been on earth since Bible days. Some of them, I see, were rich, and some poor. Some were learned, some unlearned . . . some were Calvinists, and some were Arminians . . . But one thing, I see, they all had in common. They all had been men of prayer.”

— J. C. Ryle (1816–1900)

“Learn to move men, through God, by prayer alone.”

— Hudson Taylor

“We cannot declare too often or too strongly that prayer, involving all of its elements, is the one prime condition of the success of Christ’s kingdom, and that all else is secondary and incidental.”

— E.M. Bounds

“When God’s house on earth is a house of prayer,

then God’s house in heaven is busy.” 

–E.M. Bounds

I’ve listened to thousands of sermons. I’ve probably listened to a hundred John Piper sermons. This is my favorite Piper sermon.  And since “Prayer is the Work” in DMM / CPM, this sermon (even though not specifically about DMM) this has direct application to our work.  Enjoy!

“For God alone, Oh my soul, wait in silence” 

Ps. 62:5

“From of old no one has heard or perceived with the ear,

no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.”     

Isaiah 64:4

Wait only upon God; my soul, be still,
And let thy God unfold His perfect will,
Thou fain wouldst follow Him throughout this year,
Thou fain with listening heart His voice wouldst hear,
Thou fain wouldst be a passive instrument
Possessed by God, and ever Spirit-sent
Upon His service sweet –then be thou still,
For only thus can He in thee fulfill
His heart’s desire. Oh, hinder not His hand,
From fashioning the vessel He hath planned.

Be silent unto God, and thou shall know
The quiet, holy calm He doth bestow
On those who wait on Him; so shalt thou bear
His presence, and His life and light e’en where
The night is darkest, and thine earthly days
Shall show His love, and sound His glorious praise.
And He will work with hand unfettered, free
His high and holy purposes through thee.

First on thee must that hand of power be turned,
Till in His love’s strong fire thy dross is burned,
And thou come forth a vessel for thy Lord,
So frail and empty, yet, since He hath poured
Into thine emptiness His life, His love,
Henceforth through thee the power of God shall move
And He will work for thee. Stand still and see
The victories thy God will gain for thee;
So silent, yet so irresistible,
Thy God shall do the thing impossible.

Oh, question not henceforth what thou canst do;
Thou canst do nought. But He will carry through
The work where human energy had failed,
Where all thy best endeavours had availed
Thee nothing. Then, my soul, wait and be still;
Thy God shall work for thee His perfect will.
If thou wilt take no less, His best shall be
Thy portion now and through eternity.

–Freda Hanbury