The following article is comprised of selections from a talk given by John Piper at the Annual Meeting of the ACMC in 1988. His address contained three main points.

Life is war
In other words, life is war.

But most people do not believe this in their heart. Most people show by their priorities and their casual approach to spiritual things that they believe we are in peacetime, not wartime.

In wartime, the newspapers carry headlines about how the troops are doing. In wartime, families talk about the sons and daughters on the front lines, and write to them, and pray for them with heart-wrenching concern for their safety. In wartime, we are on the alert. We are armed. We are vigilant. In wartime, we spend money differently — there is austerity, not for its own sake, but because there are more strategic ways to spend money than on new tires at home. The war effort touches everybody. We all cut back. The luxury liner becomes the troop carrier . . .

The logic is crucial. Why is the Father going to give the disciples what they ask in Jesus’ name? Answer: Because they have been sent to bear fruit. The reason the Father gives the disciples the gift of prayer is because Jesus has given them a mission. In fact, the grammar of John 15:16 implies that the reason Jesus gives them their mission is so that they will be able to enjoy the power of prayer. “I send you to bear fruit so that whatever you ask the Father . . . he may give you.”

So I do not tire of saying to our church, “The number one reason why prayer malfunctions in the hands of a believers is that they try to turn a wartime walkie-talkie into a domestic intercom . . .”

So my first point is that, if we are going to mobilize a powerful prayer movement for missions or even sustain the will to pray in our own hearts, we must talk about something else first, namely, war . . . Until we feel the desperation of a bombing raid, or the thrill of a new strategic offensive for the gospel, we will not pray in the spirit of Jesus.

The sovereignty of God
When our hearts ache for something, we pray for it . . .

In other words, when you believe in the sovereignty of God – in the right and power of God to bring hardened sinners to faith and salvation – then you will be able be able to pray with no inconsistency and with great Biblical promises for the conversion of the lost . . . Until we embrace the sovereignty of God, we cannot be confident that our prayers will succeed and that the cause of Christ will triumph . . .

Until we embrace the sovereignty of God we cannot be confident that the cause of Christ will triumph and that all our praying will not be in vain . . .

The place of prayer in God’s purposes for the World
Now what is the place of prayer in the accomplishment of that great and unstoppable purpose of God?

Here we must be careful. The role of prayer is so unspeakably significant in God’s design that we are prone to overstate its role, especially in relation to the Word of God and the preaching of the Gospel. So let me say, loud and clear, that I believe the proclamation of the Gospel in word and deed is the work of missions. And prayer is the power that wields the weapon of the Word, and the Word is the weapon by which the nations will be brought to faith and obedience . . .

Not only has God made the accomplishment of his global purposes of salvation hang on the preaching of the Word; he has also made the success of the preaching of the Word hang on prayer. God’s goal to be glorified in a world full of white-hot worshippers from every people and tongue and tribe and nation will not succeed without the powerful proclamation of the gospel by people like you and me. And that gospel will not be proclaimed in power to all the nations without the persevering, earnest, global, faith-filled prayers of God’s people. This is the awesome place of prayer in the purposes of God for the world. They won’t happen without prayer . . .

This is the place of prayer – on the battlefield of the world. It is a wartime walkie-talkie, not a domestic intercom to increase the comforts of the saints.

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

This article is part of the May 2009 issue. It is filed under Mission mobilizing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Share this post on Facebook.