I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.

But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Luke 12:4,5

Referring to Jeremiah in his book RUN WITH THE HORSES, Eugene Peterson says that Jeremiah was undeterred by the hostility around him and his message, for "the most important thing in his life was God - not comfort, not applause, not security, but the living God."

"What he did fear was worship without astonishment, religion without commitment. He feared getting what he wanted, and missing what God wanted. It is the only thing worthy of our fear."

They all joined together constantly in prayer....Acts 1:14

So what did the early believers know about prayer? It's safe to say that there would have been no Acts 2 without the prayer of Acts 1. History was shaped in that upper room by the prayers of those 120 faithful.

So what happens when we don't pray? P. T. Forsythe opens up the consequences,  detailing what we lose.

"The prayerless spirit saps a people's moral strength because it blunts their thought and conviction of the Holy. It must be so if prayer is such a moral blessing and such a shaping power, if it pass, by its nature, from the vague volume and passion of devotion to formed petition and effort."

"Prayerlessness is an injustice and a damage to our own soul, and therefore to its history, both in what we do and what we think. The root of all deadly heresy is prayerlessness."

"Prayer finds our clue in a world otherwise without form and void. And it draws a magic circle round us over which the evil spirits may not pass. "Prayer," says Vinet, "is like the air of certain ocean isles, which is so pure that there vermin cannot live. We should surround ourselves with this atmosphere, as the diver shuts himself into his bell ere he descends into the deep.The worst sin is prayerlessness.....we are left by God for lack of seeking Him." P.T. Forsythe

Ok, so we don't want that, do we? What can we expect when we do pray?

"The potency of prayer hath subdued the strength of fire; it hath bridled the rage of lions, hushed anarchy to rest, extinguished wars, appeased the elements, expelled demons, burst the chains of death, expanded the gates of heaven, assuaged diseases, repelled frauds, rescued cities from destruction, stayed the sun in its course, and arrested the progress of the thunderbolt."

"Prayer is an all-efficient panoply, a treasure undiminished, a mine which is never exhausted, a sky unobscured by clouds, a heaven unruffled by storm. It is the root, the fountain, the mother of a thousand blessings." Chrysostom

"The prayers of God's saints are the capital stock in heaven by which Christ carries on His great work upon earth. The great throws and mighty convulsions on earth are the results of these prayers."

"Earth is changed, revolutionized, angels move on more powerful, more rapid wing, and God's policy is shaped as the prayers are more numerous, more efficient." E. M. Bounds

It's a no-brainer. Just what are we waiting for??