U.S. Senate Chaplain Barry Black — the man who made headlines when he brought down the house at the 2017 National Prayer Breakfast — is defending prayer in the wake of a slew of attacks on its relevance, specifically after last week’s school shooting.
Black pointed out in an interview with CBN News that he believes “prayer is the breath of the soul” — and he explained where the Bible stands on asking believers to invoke the Lord.
“It’s inhaling and exhaling,” Black said. “Prayer is the only thing we’re told to do without ceasing, so even when we are working, 1 Thessalonians 5, even when we’re working we ought to be praying.”
The chaplain, who ministers to some of the nation’s most powerful leaders, added a caveat, though: Christians are also told in the Book of James about the importance of works.
Has prayer lost its place in America? Does responsibility lie with the culture or the Church? Senate Chaplain Barry Black is here to talk about all this and more.
Posted by CBN News on Monday, February 19, 2018
“But James says it is not enough to say to someone who is cold, ‘Be warmed.’ It is not enough to say to someone who is hungry, ‘Be filled,’ but that we have work to do as well,” he continued. “Someone said, ‘Work as if prayer had nothing to do with it and pray as if work had nothing to do with it.’ So I think you need to combine the two.”
Black also weighed in on last week’s controversy after “The View” host Joy Behar’s proclaimed that it’s essentially “mental illness” to believe that “Jesus talks to you,” explaining, once again, what the Bible says about this topic.
“The Bible says you will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way, walk ye in it,’ 46th Psalm verse 1 says, ‘Be still and know that I am God,'” Black said. “I think a lot of times we don’t hear the voice of God because we don’t stop and listen. Many times as Elijah learned, He speaks in a whisper, a still small voice.”
(H/T: CBN News)