Encouragement in Prayer

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   One of the things I have wrestled with from time to time is consistency in prayer. Perhaps this is because I wonder what good it does, what practical impact it is having. At times, I have felt like I am just uttering words into empty space, so in that sense I've operated as a practical atheist. When I pray, it can often be brief so that I can get on to the real business of the day. D. L. Moody once said, "If you have so much business to attend to that you have no time to pray, depend on it that you have more business on hand than God ever intended you should have."

   Ephesians 6:18-20 says, "With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak." Prayer requires alertness and perseverance, but it also requires purpose. Here Paul is in prison, and he is asking the Ephesian believers to pray that he would "...make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel...." What better example of purposeful prayer can we have than this! In all the times we pause to pray, let us make this our chief priority in prayer, that we, like Paul, would be able to make known the mystery of the gospel.

   Let me leave you with this encouraging quote on prayer. John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrims Progress, wrote this, "Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God hath promise." So this week, let us make regular time to pray, not with drudgery but with delight, and not simply for the immediate cares but also for the eternal cause of the gospel.