Wanted: Worm Work
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By John Piper
About Prayer
Part of the series Taste & See
Barb Beck, one of our prayer week spark plugs, wrote me the other day about her continued vision for a corps of praying people to pray for the ministry of the word during our morning worship services. She said,
Praying is worm-work. You can’t see worms doing their work. But without them you couldn’t plow the field. The soil would be as hard as concrete. And if you can’t plow, you can’t plant. If you can’t plant, no seed can grow. There will be no fruit and no harvest.
We are prayer worms. In prayer we prepare the ground for the seed of the word. The Lord says, ‘Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel, I will help you, says the Lord; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.’ Let us not then turn from our worm work, our prayer. Would you dare to be a worm? Come and pray in the overflow room for the services Sunday. Come and ask the Lord to break stony hearts that they may be ready soil for the scattering of the seed, God’s word.
Personally, I long to be supported in prayer during those two crucial hours. If the great apostle Paul said, “Brothers, pray for us that the word of the Lord may speed on in triumph,” imagine what help I need! Paul said that we should do battle with Satan by using the sword of the Spirit, the word of God (Ephesians 6:17). But then he added, “Keep alert … making supplication for all the saints, and also for me that utterance may be given me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel” (6:19).
The Word depends on Prayer for its power. There is a tremendous battle going on during worship. Satan hates it when God’s people start centering down and getting earnest in worship. And if God would put it in your hearts to pray now and then during one of the services, it would be a sign that he aimed to do a new work of deliverance for our people in answer to your prayer.
You don’t have to do it every Sunday. Maybe start with one service each month. What a difference it will make for all of us! Thank you for praying about this. I need your prayers.
Worming into your heart,
Pastor John
