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The Gospel Ministry Call Part 4 By Mike Ramey

by Mike Ramey
11/30/25
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     I’ll say it plain, right up front. A Chrisian man MUST develop into a praying man, and a Christian man who is called into the gospel ministry is going to need to continue to develop his prayer muscles stronger and faster than a regular Christian man.

     Let’s be honest. The ONLY prayer that the Lord will honor from someone who is NOT connected to Him is what is better known as the ‘Sinner’s Prayer.’ This is for all those who are seemingly ‘mocking’ people for praying because of a public catastrophe. IF you are properly connected to Jesus Christ HE is the one who determines your connection to God—not your whims in prayer. If you KNOW Christ and have accepted Him, the KJV Bible says that God WILL hear your prayers (Romans 10:9 KJV).

     However, there are at least seven things that will hinder your prayer life which you need to understand and address. I’ll list these roadblocks or hinderances for you:

            *Not Saved: A person who may have the ‘look’ of a Saint—but not connected.

            *Mistreatment of Wife by Husband: Guaranteed prayer blocker.

            *Unconfessed or Secret Sins. Ditto.

            *Unloving of other Saints (including your Pastor).

            *Rebellion against godly authority.

            *Asking amiss in prayer.

            *Doubt and/or unbelief in prayer towards God.

     I wanted to keep this section of the series short. Prayer is up to the individual Christian to work on and practice regularly. Thus, I’ll point you to several references that will sharpen up your prayer life AND provide a means to get rid of prayer blockers in your prayer life.

     First, the best place to check for prayer references is in the Psalms. There are 150 of them, nearly half of them written by David, a man after God’s own heart. As one preacher remarked: “The Bible will show things as they are…without sugar coating a thing.” One of my preaching mentors urged me to do the following in my ministry: “Boy, you’ve GOT to learn the Psalms.” I took his advice, and have never neglected them, whenever possible.

     Bible reading, just like prayer, is cumulative. It builds stronger and stronger over time. Want to develop a strong prayer life? Want to do as the Apostle Paul urges in the New Testament to “Pray without ceasing”? Pray-Pray-Pray!

     Second, there is plenty of written material concerning prayer. Chapel Library (www.chapellibrary.org) has a wealth of material by the ‘old masters’ and some modern saints when it comes to prayer and holiness. I would advise you to check out their website and download as much material as possible.

     Lastly, here are two other references. Charles Spurgeon has a great book entitled Spurgeon on Prayer and Spiritual Warfare. Then, Herbert Lockyer, as a part of his series of books on biblical topics has a great work entitled All the Prayers of the Bible. These items—and more through your own study and investigation aided by the Holy Spirit—will strengthen your prayer life both in private AND in public! More to come.

     Mike Ramey is a Retired Minister, KJV Bible Teacher, syndicated columnist and Bible Prophecy Specialist who lives in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is a Circuit rider of the Funky Electronic Frontier. “The Gospel Ministry Call” series is one of a variety of his columns appearing and abounding in print and cyberspace, written from a biblical, business, and common-sense perspective since 1996. Catch Mike Ramey’s columns on X (Twitter), Substack, Faithwriters.com, LinkedIn and in fine publications like this one! To drop him a line—or a whine—the address is still the same: [email protected]. ©2025 Barnstorm Communications International.