EDITOR’S NOTE: Frank S. Page, president of the SBC Executive Committee, has issued a call to prayer for revival and spiritual awakening for our churches, our nation and our world during 2013. Baptist Press will carry First-Person articles during the year encouraging Southern Baptists to pray in specific areas and for specific needs as we petition the Father for spiritual awakening.

NASHVILLE (BP) — Today’s church and society are in the midst of a unique phenomenon that has arguably never occurred in 2,000 years of church history. It is the phenomenon of an unprecedented 40-year explosion of books and emphases on prayer exactly coincided by an unprecedented collapse of morals and spirituality. In the past when most major prayer movements reached 10 to 15 years, God sent sweeping revivals and awakenings. So what is going on in a land so full of “prayer” yet careening ever faster into severe spiritual collapse and judgment?

In Scripture and history, the answer always lies not just in “more general prayer,” but in more of atype of prayer and repentance that is God-seeking, Spirit-empowered and fervent. Yet concerning this point, there is hope. Today’s prayer movement is not only rapidly broadening, there are at least some signs of genuine deepening. More and more prayer emphases are calling for a deeper Kingdom focus as well as deep repentance and returning to God. Even if conditions soon get harder and judgments worsen, God’s remnant can and must intensify in fervent prayer!

Unfortunately, surveys suggest many modern believers feel somewhat overwhelmed and unprepared for the more powerful levels of prayer. Yet, even in a hectic day God’s grace can enable believers to pray more effectively and fervently. In order to deepen our experience of God in prayer, two simple principles will make a major difference.

First — embrace deeper spiritual cleansing and yielding

In James 5:16, the release of God’s power is conditioned on the sincerity and depth of one’s ongoing confession and repentance. In verses 17-18, James broadens the context beyond physical healing to praying for a flood to end God’s judgment of drought. It is no great leap to see a parallel with our current need for a mighty flood of God’s Spirit. For many modern believers, a missing key in revival-producing prayer is a lack of understanding of God’s holiness. For far too many, being “under grace” seems to mean “sin is no big deal anymore.” Of course, any such notion is utterly contrary to Scripture and to God’s patterns in historic awakenings. Truly revived, empowered believers walk in a reverential fear of Holy God (Philippians 2:12-13).

God’s Word leaves no doubt that believers’ consistent cleansing and yielding is to be very specific and thorough (Psalms 66:18; 139:23-24; 2 Corinthians 7:1). When cleansing times are brief, rushed or overly general, issues invariably begin to build up and hinder the fervency and power of prayer. And then we experience what too often occurs today — thousands of “prayers” but little or no revival. Yet, by God’s grace there is hope for change and growth!

Just daily adding a few minutes of deeper Spirit-guided surrender can make a huge difference. Currently, more and more tools are available that can help believers yield all areas of sin and self. Our prayer office offers a Bible insert called My Covenant to Walk in Daily Cleansing. Most other conventions have similar tools. When we ask for wisdom, God surely guides His people into deeper yielding without falling into rote ritual or legalism. At least periodically, more extended times of personal cleansing also prevent hidden hindrances from building up in our lives. When believers learn to more consistently “perfect holiness in the fear of God,” fervency will not be a problem. Daily fullness of the Spirit produces supernatural fervency and it does not require exorbitant amounts of time. By God’s grace any believer can pray effectively and fervently!

Second — commit to pray with specific Kingdom-focus

Another powerful principle of fervency is to pray Kingdom-focused prayers we know God wants to accomplish (Matthew 6:33; 1 John 5:14-15). Best of all, powerful Kingdom prayers do not have to be long or overly complicated. Thankfully, we are now blessed by practical Biblical guides to pray effectively for such issues as lost people, missions, revival and spiritual awakening. Our prayer office provides a simple Bible insert called My Covenant to Pray for the Lost, Missions and Spiritual Awakening. Most state conventions have similar guides that focus and intensify even brief prayers throughout the day. It is very encouraging to report that Kingdom prayer is on the rise!

Even though societal conditions are dark, let us keep our eyes on the God of glory. Believers must not let busy schedules convince them they cannot pray effectively or fervently. By a little more cleansing and sharper Kingdom focus, our prayers can deepen. Before long, we are truly seeking the “Reviver,” not just revival. Whether we soon see sweeping revival, greater judgments or some of both, let every believer trust God for the effective fervent prayer of a yielded heart. Let us pray for a “surprising work of grace” and a genuine return to God in our day.

Gregory Frizell is the prayer and spiritual awakening specialist for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. Initial articles about the Call to Prayer that Frank Page issued to Southern Baptists for 2013 can be read here and here. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress ) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp).

All churches love certain things. Some love fellowship, some worship, some prayer. Those are good loves. Some are neutral loves. Some are not. Other churches love their building, their history, or their strategy.

Those can be good or bad, depending on what we mean by love and how we value those things. But, there are some things churches love that hurt their mission and hinder their call. Here are three I’ve observed from my time working with thousands of churches.

1. Too many churches love past culture more than their current context.

It’s remarkable, but I’ve said it many times: if the fifties ever came back, many churches are ready. (Or the 1600s, or the boomer 80s, depending on your church denomination, I guess.)

There is nothing wrong with the fifties, except that we don’t live in those times anymore. We must love those who live here, now– not pine away for the way things used to be. The cultural sensibilities of the fifties are long gone in most of the United States. The values and norms of our current context are drastically different and continue to change. The task of contextualization is paramount to the mission of the church because we are called to understand and speak to those around us in a meaningful way. We can learn much from the Apostle Paul’s example recorded in Acts17:16-34 here.

So, a church on mission– in this time and place– engages the people around it. Yes, in some ways, it resembles its context– a biblically faithful church living in its cultural concept. But, if your church loves a past era more than the current mission, it loves the wrong things.

2. Too many churches love their comfort more than their mission.

The fact is, your church probably needs to be less focused on what makes it happy and more focused on what pleases Jesus. This is an easy trap to fall into because it happens very subtly.

The fact is that most churches have worked very hard to get to a place where congregational customers are happy– their needs are met. The problem is that we are not called to cater to customers. We are called to equip co-laborers. When we win the affections of those inside our circles, it becomes hard to pull away from the affirmation we receive. Again, this only becomes a problem when the affirmation of those on the inside works to the detriment of our mission to those on the outside. It is a lot easier to settle down with the people who are like us than to reach the foreigner or alien among us.

So, a church does not exist for the comfort of its people. Actually, the Bible reminds us again and again that we are to “provoke one another to love and good deeds” (Hebrews10:24), to “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2), and more. But, if your church loves its comfort more than caring for others, it loves the wrong things.

3. Too many churches love their traditions more than their children.

How can you tell? Well, they love how they do church, but it does not relate to their own children and grandchildren. Far too often church leaders, in an effort to protect the traditions of their congregations, draw lines in the sand on non-essential issues.

This is not to say that “tradition” is wrong. It depends on how you define it, but I think most will know what I mean. As Jaroslav Pelikan has said, “Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.” Churches that love tradition that way will choose their traditions over their children every time. Too often churches allow their traditions to hinder their ability to humbly assess their effectiveness of their mission. Moreover, they allow their traditions to trump the future trajectory of their demographic. I know of several young pastors who have been exiled from their local congregations because they didn’t fit the mold of what had always been the ethos of the leadership. Sometimes this is because inpatient pastors try and force change too quickly. Other times it’s because settled churches resist change so forcefully.

Undoubtedly, there are always times to defend the traditional stances of essential doctrines in the local church. But we should not have a cultural elitism that hinders passing the torch to a new generation of leaders. If your church loves the way you do church more than your children, it loves the wrong things.

It’s time to evaluate your church.

Love is good– and everyone wants a loving church. However, loving the wrong things leads you the wrong way. Loving what is good, including our context, Jesus’ mission, and the next generation (to name a few things), moves the church in the right direction. The church should be always reforming, that is, humbly looking at itself and assessing their ability to reach people with the good news of Jesus. Sadly, many of the people Jesus devoted his time to would not feel welcome in our churches.

What about your church? What does its posture, its behavior, its practices, and activities communicate to the community you are in? I think all of us want to understand the culture and community we are ministering in so that we can communicate the gospel with absolute clarity. To do this we need to ask ourselves the hard but needed questions.

• Who are we reaching?
• Are we primarily reaching people who are like us?
• Are we primarily reaching people who are already believers?
• Are we primarily reaching people who understand Christian subculture and taboos?
• What about the people who don’t have a church background?
• What about the people who are unfamiliar with Christian beliefs?
• What about the people who don’t understand church subculture and behavioral taboos?

To say that we are unable to reach the lost because of our traditions or preferences is simply unacceptable and antithetical to the mission of God.