Jesus prayed so often and for so many that his earthly life was literally marked by prayer. He had his favorite places where he would get alone and commune with his heavenly Father.  Jesus would often rise long before dawn so his day could begin in prayer. He would pray all night when he faced important decisions.  George Adam Smith stated that the greatest battles of Christ were fought in the place of prayer, and going forth from prayer was little more than gathering the spoils of victory. If the consistent practice of prayer was that important to Jesus, how much more should we discipline ourselves to spend uninterrupted time with God on a regular basis.

Jesus’ disciples often observed the power of his prayers to God, and they wanted to pray just like him.  In Luke’s gospel, we find perhaps one of the greatest requests ever to come before the Master:  “Lord, teach us to pray,” (Luke 11:1). With no hesitation Jesus began to outline a model prayer which would serve as the basis for Kingdom praying for as long as the church shall endure here below. 

Prayer is hard work – perhaps the hardest discipline for the maturing disciple.  It is a habit that is one of the marks of a true Christian, but it is a blessed duty which is neglected to the point that it is largely absent in the life of the modern church. Bishop J.C. Ryle rightly stated in his classic work on prayer: “tell me what a man’s prayers are, and I will soon tell you the state of his soul.”

The state of the church can rise no higher than the state of the souls who are its members, and here we find the great need of the hour – prayer. True, fervent, passionate, and Biblical prayer must once again dominate our ministries if we are to see any lasting fruit from our lives. Prayer remains the foundation and single source of power for all that we could ever hope to achieve in the building of Christ’s Kingdom. The attitude that must dominate our prayer life is that we pray toward his passion as contrasted to handing God a list of things we want him to do. If we follow this path of prayer, which according to II Chronicles 7:14 includes humbling ourselves, seeking his face and turning from sin, we can expect God to do great and mighty things.

 Pray that the wind of the Spirit will blow through our lives and churches so we might experience a fresh movement of God and see a harvest of souls for his Kingdom.

He sayeth unto them, the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. Luke 10:2