A Life Ablazeਨਮੂਨਾ

Day 3: Ablaze With Prayer

The Bible is the most important fuel for your spiritual fire, but a second fuel that you need to be adding is prayer.

Leonard Ravenhill once said, “No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying. We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few pray-ers; many singers, few clingers; lots of pastors, few wrestlers; many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors; many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere.”

What a true statement about our dependence on prayer! The book of Acts is full of examples of the Early Church praying to God, and we are expected to use it as a pattern for the way we interact with Him. When we examine this pattern, we find that the Early Church was totally dependent upon Him, and as a result, they experienced a torrential outpouring of His power.

Acts 1:15 KJV says that 120 disciples of Jesus gathered in the Upper Room and “continued with one accord in prayer and supplication….” For ten days, they called out to God, and they reaped the result in Acts 2 KJV when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost! They called on God, and He showed them great and mighty things!

All through the book of Acts, we find the pattern of prayer and response. We see a fervent Church ablaze as they are visited by the fire of God, and that is His promise to anyone who will add the fuel of prayer to his or her heart.

When Paul tells us to “continue” in prayer in Colossians 4:2 KJV, he is using a word that depicts a never-give-up attitude, because he understood how important prayer is to our lives. We are commanded to tenaciously press into the Spirit, to be resolute and determined in prayer. If we have that tenacious attitude, prayer will release the supernatural into our lives, the torrential flood of God’s power, the answer we’ve been seeking for so long!

God promises us in Jeremiah 33:3 KJV, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” God really means that! It is a promise you can stand on!

For Your Consideration:

• Consider ways that you are intentionally trying to grow in prayer. Do you belong to a prayer group? Do you set aside specific time to pray in the Spirit? Do you pray the Word aloud?
• What does “pray without ceasing” mean to you?