Christians who fail to pray don’t realize the danger they are in. You may argue, “So what if some Christians don’t pray? They are still believers — forgiven and going to heaven.”
Our heavenly Father realizes we live in a busy age, with many demands on our time and energy, and Christians are as caught up in busyness and activities as anyone else. Yet, I cannot believe God takes lightly our rejection of our access to him, which cost his only Son his very life.
It pained the Father to send Jesus to be mocked and crucified so that we would be able to come to him freely. But day after day passes and many of his children do not approach him until they attend church on Sunday. When Adam hid from the Lord in the Garden of Eden, God asked him, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9). Of course, God knew where Adam was but he was really asking Adam why he had neglected having fellowship with him.
Christians who fail to appropriate their access to the Father end up in the condition of the church in Sardis. The Lord instructed John, “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write … ‘I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead’” (Revelation 3:1). Jesus is saying, “You may be a good person who will do anything for anybody, but an element of death has crept into your life because of your negligence. Something of the world has defiled you.”
What is the defilement referred to here? Lack of prayer! The believers in Sardis had not been watching in prayer, waiting on the Lord and seeking him as they once had. They had grown careless but the Lord tells them in Revelation 3:4: “A few of you are worthy and you don’t want to lose my presence.”
Quickly now, go to the secret closet of prayer. He has provided you with access to him and he promises to meet your every need.
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David Wilkerson (1931 – 2011)
Founder of Times Square Church in New York City with over 100 different languages spoken in the congregation. Wilkerson wrote many powerful books such as: The Vision and Cross and the Switchblade. His ministry was prophetic as God called him to be a watchman to the Church in North America. He gave clear messages on repentance to the Church.Wilkerson also founded Teen Challenge where there are hundreds of centres for Christ-centered drug recovery and addiction recovery. He also organized and spoke at pastors gatherings in many countries where he gave prophetic strong messages to encourage pastors and leaders.
Recommends these books by David Wilkerson:
The Vision and Beyond, Prophecies Fulfilled and Still to Come by David Wilkerson
Knowing God by Name: Names of God That Bring Hope and Healing by David Wilkerson
God's Plan to Protect His People in the Coming Depression by David Wilkerson
David Wilkerson is an American Christian evangelist, most well-known for his book The Cross and the Switchblade. He is also the founder of Times Square Church in New York, an interdenominational church.
Wilkerson is well-known for these early years of his ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in New York City in the 1950s and 1960s. He co-authored a book about his work with the New York drug addicts, The Cross and the Switchblade, which became a best-seller, selling over 50 million copies in over thirty languages since it was published in 1963. The book was included among the 100 most important Christian books of the 20th century.
For over four decades, Wilkerson's ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. He has authored over 30 books.
David Wilkerson is the founder and president of World Challenge, Inc., a nonprofit organization incorporated on September 22, 1971. Reverend Wilkerson, the author of over thirty inspirational books, is perhaps best known for his early days of ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. His story is told in The Cross and the Switchblade, a book he co-authored which became a best-seller. (The story has been read by over 50 million people in some thirty languages and 150 countries since 1963. In 1969, a motion picture of the same title was released.)
For over four decades, Reverend Wilkerson's evangelistic ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. Throughout that time a distinctive characteristic of his work has been his direct efforts to reach the neediest members of the population with help for both body and soul. Even now, the almost 70 year-old minister often goes out alone or sometimes with an assistant to walk through the streets of New York City, along Broadway and Eighth Avenue or down 42nd Street and nearby "Crack Alley" on 41st Street. His mission is always to seek out the lost, the disoriented, and the addicted , to tell them of the power of the risen Christ to set them free.
David Wilkerson, born in Hammond, Indiana on May 19, 1931, was married in 1953 to Gwen Carosso. The Wilkersons' two sons are ministers, and their two daughters are married to ministers. They have 11 grandchildren. The Wilkersons served small pastorates in Scottsdale and Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, until Reverend Wilkerson saw a photograph in Life magazine of several New York City teenagers charged with murder. Moved with compassion he was drawn to the city in February 1959. It was at that time he began his street ministry to what one writer called "desperate, bewildered, addicted, often violent youth.