Building a successful prayer life post series [James 5:16]
The point is: prayer begins and prayer sustains.This is an important point about prayer that we all have to understand. God loves the world and even loves us while we were yet sinners, and it was that love that brought about the work of the cross. However, the love of God and the work of the cross do not itself insure a relationship with the Father, until we take a step of faith and utter the words of repentance and accept that love and the work of the cross – prayer. Then a conscious relationship begins.
Prayer begins our relationship with God and prayer sustains our relationship with God. Furthermore in the Christian faith, prayer begins so many other supernatural acts of God through our lives and it’s only prayer and the Word that sustains his divine work in us.
So there’s a popular saying: a prayer-less Christian is a powerless Christian, that’s very true, and I’ll rephrase that a little: ‘a Christian not rooted in the Word is powerless (and eventually dead) and a prayer-less Christian is a DEAD Christian’. Yes, dead, that’s as serious as it gets.
So we all need the Word and God’s presence daily in our lives – only initiated by Prayer.
Why commit to prayer: let’s take a simple case study of the early disciples of Jesus;
- Acts 2:4 – the Spirit gave them utterance - Spirit birthed prayer. «Prayer begins»
- Acts... - the miraculous began and continued. «Prayer begins and sustains»
- Acts 12:1-4 - tribulations went alongside, despite the anointing,
- Acts 12:5-12 - but the only solution was prayer. «Prayer sustains»
In the time of the early church, the only solution was prayer and so does it apply today. It's a kingdom principle: prayer begins and sustains. Prayer is the master key, and as Jesus committed to prayer(Matthew 14:23, Mark 6:46, Luke 6:12, Luke 9:28), we also as His disciples have to follow His footsteps of committing to prayer. It is our weapon of challenge in the Good fight of faith(Ephesians 6:11-18).
Remain forever blessed.