What does your prayer life look like? Spending time with God in communion and prayer has been a lifelong struggle for many Christians. Though we experience blessed seasons when prayer is the easiest and most natural thing in the world, we also experience seasons when prayer is difficult and when it feels awkward or even ineffective.
We know so much of what the Bible says about the privilege, priority, and practice of prayer, yet struggle mightily to pray fervently and consistently. Very few of us pray as often and as earnestly as we would like. Very few of us are confident that we pray well. Fewer still feel like we really get prayer.
This discipline doesn’t come naturally to us and we battle constantly to spend time with God and to even want to spend time with God. It is one that breeds guilt and shame. It breeds frustration and exasperation. Even at our most insightful moments we can’t, however hard we try, figure out what it is that convinces us that we should do anything but spend a good part of our day pouring out our heart to God.
Even at those times when we feel like we are making strides forward, we still know how much better we could do. We are astounded at our own failures. It’s not that we don’t pray at all, but more that we just don’t pray enough.
We know prayer to be theoretically important but yet practice it very little. We don’t pray often enough and we don’t pray vehemently enough. And for this reason, we are to look closely at this command and accentuate that it requires effort, it requires growing skill, it requires growing competence, it requires increasing faith.
The importance of prayer in the life of Jesus’ follower cannot be overstated. The prayer life of Jesus shows us it is more about our relationship, engaging in conversation with him, and getting to know him better each day. If daily prayer was such an important lifeline for Jesus that he never neglected it, then surely it must be the same for all who seek to follow him. If it was part of the sacred discipline of Jesus that he should observe frequent seasons of retirement, how much more is it incumbent on us, broken as we are and crippled by manifold sin, to be diligent in the exercise of “prayerful prayer.”
If we are followers of Christ, we will and should always pray to God. All Christians are called to pray (Col. 4:2). While, indeed, the Scripture commands us to pray, we pray not just out of obedience to the commandment to pray but moreover because we delight in communicating with God our Father. The most important appointment we make every day is the one we make with God. If we live our lives as followers of Christ in a relationship with God, we should communicate with Him regularly.
In his book, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, Richard Foster reminds us that, “Of all the spiritual disciplines, prayer is the most central because it ushers us into perpetual communion with the Father.” This means that as we pray, we not only bring to God what is on our hearts but it draws our hearts closer to God. It’s the conduit we have to grow in a relationship with God and connect with Him in an ever deepening, intimate way
Dr. Tim Keller states that “Prayer is continuing a conversation that God has started through His Word and His grace, which eventually becomes a full encounter with Him. The power of prayer, then, lies not primarily in our effort and striving, or in any technique, but rather in our knowledge and relationship with God.” Inherent as is our dependence upon God, no duty is more earnestly impressed upon us in the Bible than the duty of continual communion with Him.
Someone has also said, “The occupation of our soul is our communication lines with our Holy God. The occupation of our soul is our prayer life with Christ, one of the primary purposes of our existence.” Prayer is central to the follower of Christ’s faith and life. Prayer should be an integral part of our daily life, not an occasional lifeline when things go wrong. It ought to be a lifestyle for us as followers of Jesus. It shouldn’t be the last resort or a final act of desperation. Prayer is a lifestyle, not a lifeline.
It’s just the way we live from day to day. It’s a part of our entire life. It’s the core of who we are. It’s our breath. It’s what we do all the time; on all occasions! Prayer is not to be a little segment of our lives, rather, it is to permeate all of life. As followers of Jesus, we have to go back to the heart of our relationship with God, and it’s in our communication with Him through prayer, all the time, about all things, because that’s our lifestyle! J. I. Packer writes, “I believe that prayer is the measure of the man, spiritually, in a way that nothing else is, so that how we pray is as important a question as we can ever face.”
As we journey together in understanding the nature, the purpose, and the power of prayer, it is my prayer that God will bless these words and instill a joyful and fruitful prayer life in your life and mine. Pray for God to give us the heart and passion to pray. Pray that we as individuals and as a church would grow in great measure and deeply in prayer. Pray that we would not neglect our personal prayer, corporate prayer, and seasons of especially devoted prayer. Be encouraged and behold that the Lord is accomplishing something through our prayers, something greater than if He were to give us what we desire apart from ardent, impassioned, tear-filled prayers.
Pastor Ronel G. Rubrica
KBCF Head Pastor
Download Prayer & Fasting Booklet
Digital copies of the prayer booklet are available in this website and social media pages. You can download the file by clicking the button below. Hard copies are also available upon request. KBCF is enjoining every family and attender to ascribe to the Lord all glory honor and praise, and continue to entrust to Him the whole year.
Corporate Prayer Gathering
We invite you to join our 6-Day Corporate Prayer Gathering from July 03-07, 2023, Monday to Friday, 7pm at the KBCF Worship Hall. We will also have the culmination of our Prayer and Fasting on July 08, 2023, 10am at KBCF Worship hall. We encourage you to plan ahead, and let us all be blessed with what God will be revealing us as we seek Him this Prayer and Fasting Week! We hope to see you there.
Browse Booklet Online
You may also view the embedded booklet below:
KBCF-Midyear-Prayer-and-Fasting-Booklet-2023You may also browse the devotions found in the Prayer & Fasting booklet in the Devotions section of the KBCF blog.
