Thoughts Along The Journey

There are many good resources on prayer.  One was the focus of our WT Global community study a few years ago, A Praying Life, by Paul Miller.  However, in the end, all of these resources bring us back to the same conclusion: we just need to pray.

We would all agree that we can spend more time sharing prayer points than actually praying for those requests.

Preachers, pastors, theologians and writers of long ago remind us of the importance and necessity of prayer with words that could have been written in our day:

“No man or woman can progress in grace if he forsakes prayer.”

“If you may have everything by asking in His name, and nothing without asking,

I beg you to see how absolutely vital prayer is.”

“Prayer and praise are the oars by which a man may row his boat into

the deep waters of the knowledge of Christ.”

So, what should we do?

First, we should not hassle one another because of our common tendency to talk more than to pray.  We all fall into the same trap, particularly because a prayer point is a way to share our heartfelt need.  Second, we should lift up Christ before one another more and more.  What that simply means is we need to point one another to the Hearer of our prayers, rather than to the prayers in themselves.  It’s Christ we are ultimately after: to know Him more deeply.  Finally, we just should call one another to prayer by those simple words: “Let’s pray”.  Entering into conversation with our God & Father does not mean that our ‘sharing’ is over with.  We can share further needs and praises in prayer because, in the end, it is He. who listens to our heart groanings, to whom all our hopes are directed.

Filed under: Jesus Christ, One another, Prayer |