Prayer focus firmly roots Seminary family’s priorities for new semester

posted on Sep 09, 2011 by T. Patrick Hudson

In an effort to place a centralized focus on prayer for the new semester, Midwestern’s leadership hosted its regular semester “Day of Prayer” on Aug. 31.

“Today is a very important day because it’s a day of prayer,” said Dr. Phil Roberts, MBTS president.  “It is a day where we ask God’s special blessings on this great institution and on its work and ministry.  We don’t have anything else going for us except to pray.  If we don’t pray, then we can’t expect God to bless; but if we do pray, then we do expect the Lord to bless and encourage us in every sense of the word.”

Activities throughout the day emphasized the necessity for dependence upon God through the discipline of prayer and included a 7 a.m. intercession time for Midwestern graduates now serving on the mission field.

“The turnout for the early prayer time might have been the best it’s ever been,” said Vicki Hauser, the MBTS admissions coordinator who led breakout prayer groups during the event.  “There was a cohesion that was just stupendous that morning.  We went longer than anticipated because we had so many prayer requests.  It was an incredible time to lift up missionaries, their families and their needs as they serve the Lord fulfilling the Great Commission.”

Midwestern’s leadership invited Darrel Gabbard, the pastor of Dublin Baptist Church in Dublin, Ohio, to lead the “Day of Prayer” activities.  He shared brief devotionals at the smaller sessions, and preached the morning’s chapel service with a message entitled, “A House of Prayer” from Matthew 21:12-17.

In the sermon, Gabbard asked that if a believer’s body is considered the temple of God, then “What kind of place should God’s house be?”  His answer was that it should be a “house of prayer.”

“God’s Word makes it clear that prayer is the key to connecting with God and experiencing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives,” Gabbard said.  “If we are to see His Kingdom expand and impact this world, and if we are to see His will accomplished here on earth, then we must be a people of prayer.”

The pastor from Ohio then provided six characteristics necessary to ensuring a believer’s temple is a “house of prayer.”  They included having the Lord present and preeminent, moral purity, faithful petitions, spiritual power, joyful praise and biblical proclamation.

Of biblical proclamation, Gabbard said, “Jesus saturated the temple that day with the truth of God’s word.  Our prayers must be based upon the truth of Scripture.  As temples of God, that should characterize us -- our lives should be saturated and permeated with the power of His Word.  That keeps our house clean.”

The day’s events concluded with groups prayer walking the campus to uplift Midwestern’s students, faculty, staff and ministries.  Scenes of believers banding together, seeking how to best pray for each other, could be seen all across the Seminary buildings and grounds.

“During the prayer walk, I was thankful for the opportunity to intercede more intentionally for the community of Midwestern, and I was really confronted with how I had forgotten to do that,” said Elizabeth Mejia, an MBTS Master of Arts in Counseling student.  “I was also thankful for the ‘Day of Prayer’ as a whole because it’s not just praying for one day only, but it’s a time where we are reminded of the importance of prayer and hopefully convicted and encouraged to pray to a God who answers those prayers.”

To hear Gabbard’s complete Prayer Day message, go to MBTS Audio Podcast and scroll to the entry on Aug. 31.