Prayer

I am preaching this coming Sunday on prayer. I am excited for it because I think it is a valuable part of our Christian life. It is how God's Kingdom is administered. I am not talking about weak, obligatory prayer. I am talking about powerful, vibrant communication with a God who loves us more than anything else in this world. I am talking about prayer that shifts nations, principalities and powers and that empowers believers to do the things that Jesus did.

We have a long way to go to reclaim the type of prayer that Jesus exemplified. But we need to get started. Our churches need it, our cities need it, our nation needs it. Prayer fills us with God's life and light and love. Prayer is what puts us into God's hands so that He can use us most fully. Prayer is a privilege for us as Christians, not an obligation. Prayer is what enables us to impact our world more fully. Prayer, communion with God, is inspiring, invigorating and most of all... fun!

Our Puritan roots run deep in this country - anything pleasurable has to be sinful, right? But we were made to pray, that is the essence of Genesis 1,2, and 3. We were made to rule with God through fellowship. That is exactly what prayer is - fellowship, communion. We give and take, speak and listen, share and receive. We spend time with one another, we find out and work towards having things in common. We are changed by prayer from glory to glory, not because prayer is anything special in and of itself, but because prayer is what brings us into God's presence and the more we see Him the more we become like Him. Praise God for that. I want to have a face that shines like Moses and I don't want to be ashamed of it like He was. I don't want that glory to fade, either. When Jesus comes back, I want to be like Him - that will only happen through prayer.