Not too long ago, in the month of June, we had the wonderful opportunity to spend extended time both as a wider church and in our small groups thinking about the topic of prayer. At Church Camp we considered the prayers of the Apostle Paul and Jesus, reflecting on what it looks like for us to pray for one another, to pray under trials, and to pray like how Jesus taught his disciples. On top of this, a number of our small groups at BA also got the chance to read through Pray Big, a book on (surprise, surprise) prayer, which helped us to reflect on the privilege of prayer and how we can be praying for the things that matter most.
However, since then, I wonder, how have you been going in your prayer life?
Personally speaking, the past couple of months have been a mixed bag.
I’m really thankful to God for some of the good stretches I’ve had, where I’ve been humbly entrusting myself to God in prayer, casting my cares upon him, and earnestly praying for others that God has placed in my life. I think back on some of the precious evenings I’ve spent with my wife and son these past two months, getting my son ready for bedtime, praying for friends at church and family members.
But at the same time, there have certainly been periods over these past couple of months which have been less marked by prayerfulness and, sadly, more marked by distraction, and self-reliance, or maybe just plain apathy. And as I look back on such days, it’s clear just how quick I am to forget the necessity and the privilege of prayer. And it’s also clear just how desperately I need to be reminded of these things daily.
And so, no matter how you’ve been going in your prayer life, dear brothers and sisters at BA, can I remind us of just how incredible it is that we can pray. And can I urge each of us to persevere in prayer.
As Christians, we have the tremendous privilege of being numbered as one of God’s children. We are people who were once dead but have now been raised to new life and have been adopted to be sons and daughters of God through Jesus Christ. And as God’s children, we now have available to us the amazing gift of prayer. We can now speak to the God of the universe – the one who loves us, the one who longs to hear from us, the one who is able to powerfully work through our prayers.
And so why not take some time today to pray – to speak to our Father in Heaven? For those of us who do, we can be assured that our Heavenly Father is both willing to hear us and eager to respond to our prayers.
