The gospel has made God accessible through prayer. The strength of our ministry is dependant upon God and will parallel the strength of our prayer life. We will be a people whose passion is to rest in the intimate embrace of our Father through prayer.
What does it mean to value a lifestyle of prayer? Paul Miller, author of A Praying Life, says:
A praying life looks like a relationship — between you and God. That is why prayer is not actually the center – getting to know a person, God, is the center. Consequently, a praying life isn’t something you accomplish in a year. It is a journey of a lifetime.
Valuing a lifestyle of prayer is an expression of our value of God and our relationship with Him. Hebrews 10 teaches that Jesus as a great high priest opens for us the way into God’s holy presence. Matthew 11 teaches that Jesus is the resting place for our souls. In prayer, we find that this Holy God is also our Loving Father.
Paul Miller again:
The difficulty of coming to God just as we are is that we are messy. And prayer makes it worse. When we slow down to pray, we are immediately confronted with how unspiritual we are, with how difficult it is to concentrate on God. We didn’t know how bad we were until we tried to be good. Nothing exposes our selfishness and spiritual powerlessness like prayer.
Valuing a lifestyle of prayer is not the action of the ‘spiritual person’ but the action of a desperate, weary, messy person. Come to Him.
By Ryan, an elder at Christ Community Church