Cultivating A Prayer Life

Keep praying! Don’t just pray once and move on. Keep at it. Cultivate it as a discipline in your life.

Luke 18:1 reads, “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”

Have you been praying for something for a long time that you believe is in God’s will? Keep praying.

Why?

First, because you’ll keep hoping. Fervent prayer keeps your heart inclined toward God and his blessings. The communication of prayer deepens your love for God, and 1 Corinthians 13:7 tells us that true love always hopes.

Second, fervent prayer will maintain a willingness in you to grow and be changed. Once you stop praying, you stop caring. But if you keep praying, your heart will grow more and more tender toward the things of God.

Third, if you keep praying you keep loving. If you keep praying for people, you will grow in love for people. If you keep praying for God’s help and blessings in your life, you will grow in love for God. When we stop praying we often stop caring.
So, if you’re single and you are called to marriage, keep praying for your future spouse. Doing this is not only a great gift to your future partner, it also helps guard your own heart against temptation while you wait.

If you need a job, keep praying for one and seeking until your prayer is answered by God.

If you are sick, keep praying for healing until you are healed in this life or taken home to be perfectly healed in God’s kingdom.

Wait and pray in hope, and this hopeful, fervent expectancy will conform your heart to the will of God whatever his answer might be to your prayer.

Is there anything that you believe is in God’s will but that you have stopped praying about? If so, spend some time praying for that person or thing again today.

Excerpt from “Pray Like Jesus” by Pastor Mark Driscoll

Originally published at Naija Christians.