Exteme Gravity

The New Testament lays a greater stress on prayer than it does on the evangelization of people. There is a deeper need to prayer that there is even for people to be converted, and I don’t say that lightly because there is a fierce need for conversion. But conversions wont happen unless we are praying and the Bible says that from the beginning to the end” Bishop Sandy Millar

We have a big vision for the re-evangelization of the nations and the transformation of society. And the GOOD NEWS is that God has promised to give us precisely these blessings; describing them in 2 Chronicles 7:14 as the healing of the land, hearing of prayers, and the forgiveness of sins. The BAD NEWS is that promise is conditional upon our humble and fervent prayers.

"When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:13-14

Three of the most important words in the passage may well be the most inconspicuous words too: WHEN… IF… THEN

WHEN…
Before God promises blessing, He Promises problems. His people are not immune from the droughts and plagues, which, to an agrarian culture, meant disaster at every level: environmentally, financially and socially.
IF…
We are currently experiencing environmental, financial and social crisis but sadly so many of God’s people are placing their hope in products, personalities and programs instead of doing the one things that God’s requires: that we turn to Him in prayer. There is a big IF that acts as a hinge, connecting the prediction of problems (when) with the most incredible promises of healing and salvation (then). We want God to say “If problems come, when you pray, then I will act,”  but actually He says the exact opposite: “When problems come, if you pray, then I will act…”
THEN…
When challenges come, if God’s people will respond with prayer that are humble, hungry and holy, He promises to answer us by sending forgiveness and healing. The hinge of history, it seems is the bended knee.

“God is not deaf, He listens; more than that He acts. He does not act in the same way whether we prayer or not. Prayer exerts an influence upon God’s actions, even upon his existence.” Karl Barth
So as we re-think prayer in light of this scripture its again unpins that it is something essential that we are to engage in .
Adapted from the Alpha Prayer guide