Why Is Prayer So Hard & Evangelism So Difficult? - 26 Sep 2006
Do you ever wonder... why evangelism is just so ineffective? Or why so many prayers for friends who don't yet know Jesus, go un-answered? Or why all the miracles seem to happen in Africa, China or Latin America? In a challenging call to prayer, the respected bible teacher Mike Fox asks us to consider a disturbing question: "Is Western Society under God's judgement?"
On Monday morning Phil and I went to call on people on our local estate to share Jesus with them. After praying we picked a road and started knocking on doors. We came to Mick, a man in his fifties just getting over a serious operation for cancer of the bladder.
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Why are their minds closed to the good news of Jesus? |
"It's made me think a lot," he said.
"About what?" we asked.
"Oh, about life and death and that sort of thing."
"And about God?"
"No. There's no God to think about. Religion is for those who need a crutch to lean on." |
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We moved on down the road and came to Andrew, an unemployed father in his late twenties. Yes, he'd been thinking a lot about God. He'd been depressed for some time: maybe God was his only hope. We prayed with him on the doorstep and invited him and his partner to an Alpha course.
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Two men, two very different responses, the first far more common than the second in our experience. Why don't people like Mick, who've seen a bit of life and suffering, jump at the opportunity to get right with God? Why are their minds closed to the good news of Jesus? Can it be that God's message to Isaiah at his commissioning as a prophet applies to our generation too? | |
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"The Lord said, 'Go and tell this people:
Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.
Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears, understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.'" (Isaiah 6:8-10) |
This is what they call 'A Hard Saying'! The Lord appears to be instructing Isaiah not to expect his prophecies to be received gladly. People were not going to listen or understand; their hearts would be hard, their spiritual perception dull. And the awful thing was that God himself would be closing their minds to the prophet's message. Why?
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"This is God's terrifying
judgement: People find themselves losing the
ability to believe." |
There's a paradox here. Until the people of Isaiah's generation came to their senses, repented and and opened their minds to God's truth, they would be under divine judgment. And that judgment would mean that they wouldn't be able to open their minds to trust and obey God. And so today. It's the same chicken-and-egg situation. People like Mick who wilfully resist God and refuse to believe his message find themselves losing the ability to believe, and because they have lost the ability to believe they simply can't bring themselves to grasp God's truth. This is God's terrifying judgment at work.
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How then are we to pray for this idolatrous generation? If the widespread unbelief we encounter today is indeed a sign of God's judgment, we need first to pray for his mercy. Isaiah was told that mercy | |
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Plead
for an end to this
spiritual dullness |
would be shown in the end (the "holy seed" in v.13); we, too, can plead for God mercifully to bring our generation through this period of spiritual dullness to renewed faith and vigour. When he opens the eyes of the blind and restores spiritual perceptivity, the angels in heaven will be dancing for joy.
"Speak today, Lord, with the voice that wakes the dead! May the people turn and be healed. Amen" |
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 Mike Fox is Priest-in-Charge of two Anglican churches near Reigate, Surrey, UK. Having become a Christian at Oxford University, he trained for ministry and his gift for Bible teaching was quickly recognised. For many years he was a school teacher whose thoughtful witness impacted many hundreds of young lives. | |
 Why not email Mike your comments or questions here. | |