Lorick implores Southwesterners to prioritize fervent, faithful prayer lives

Prioritize fervent and faithful prayer to see God’s power, Nathan Lorick, executive director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, implored the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary community during his Jan. 30 chapel message.

Lorick preached from Acts 12:1-16, about the power of God and the prayers of His people. Lorick asked how many of the gathered students, faculty, and staff had quit active, passionate prayer lives because their supplications did not turn out how they expected.

“I believe when we become a people obsessed with prayer, we will begin to see God do things that we can’t imagine,” Lorick emphasized. “A life marked by prayer will also be a life marked by the power and the presence of God.”

From the passage of Scripture, Lorick explained the beginning of Acts 12 took place before Passover as King Herod attacked and executed James, one of Jesus’s disciples and John’s brother. Lorick noted that Herod arrested Peter, another of Jesus’s disciples, with the intent to kill him after Passover. He said in verse 5, the church prayed fervently.

“There is a major problem – Peter is in prison,” Lorick explained. “There is no light at the end of the tunnel. I love the solution: ‘But the church was praying.’ How fervent is your prayer life?”

He pleaded with the crowd to pray passionately, as he encouraged the gathering of students, faculty, and staff to have “times in your day marked out to where you get on your knees and you beg God for the things in your life that you need God to do,” including prayer for lost people or those “running from God.” He told the gathering to “begin to create that time because that is where the power comes to fuel your evangelism, discipleship, and worship.”

As he referred back to the Scripture in verses 6 through 11, Lorick said to look at the results of the church’s prayer.

“There was no way Peter could manipulate the system to get out,” Lorick declared. “When the church begins to pray, God begins to move. An impossible thing happened – Peter was rescued.”

In verses 12 through 14, Lorick pointed out that the church was still faithful to pray for Peter and then the unexpected happened in verses 15 and 16.

“Here’s the funny thing about this church: they were fervently praying, but they had no idea that God had answered their prayer,” he stated. “They were not expecting Peter to show up at the house. What are you praying for today that would surprise you if God were to answer it?”

Lorick encouraged the crowd as followers of Christ, to pray prayers so big that unless God answered it, there was no way it would happen.

“If you would make it a priority in your life to fervently and faithful pray, I think you would begin to see God do things in your life you couldn’t expect or imagine,” he said.

Near the end of his message, Lorick shared his personal testimony of coming to faith in Christ as a teenager in Feb. 1998. He explained a group of students from a local church’s youth ministry faithfully prayed for his salvation. Following his testimony, Lorick encouraged the gathering of faculty, staff, and students to come to the altar at the front of MacGorman Chapel to intercede on behalf of lost family and friends. Dozens from the Southwestern community prayed at the altar.

Lorick has served the Southern Baptist Convention on the nominating committee as well as a trustee for the International Mission Board. He is a graduate of East Texas Baptist University and Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary where he earned both a Master of Divinity and a Doctor of Ministry degree. Lorick holds an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Louisiana Baptist University. He and his wife, Jenna, live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with their four children.

Lorick’s entire message can be viewed here.

Chapel is held every Tuesday and Thursday at 10 a.m. (CT) in MacGorman Chapel on the campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and TBC. Chapel may be viewed live at swbts.live.